The Minnesota state Canvassing Board made
two rulings today, both of which provide a boost to Al
Franken, and both of which will be subject to further litigation.
The major victory for Franken was the Board's ruling that
improperly rejected absentee ballots should be counted. There
could be 1,600 such ballots statewide, according to estimates,
and Franken had an advantage in absentee voting. So, if they do
end up getting counted after legal maneuvers by Norm Coleman,
there's a good chance that it would eat into Coleman's current
192-vote lead. Additionally, the Board ruled that 133 "mystery"
ballots that could not be found in one Minneapolis precinct
should be counted, as they originally were on election day.
Franken won those by a net of 46 votes, and the Coleman campaign
has questioned whether they were missing in the first place. The
other looming issue is over the thousands of ballots that have
been challenged during the recount. Both campaigns have been
cutting back on the number of challenges before the Board is set
to begin reviewing them next week.
