Recount set to begin in Minnesota Senate race

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Al Franken's attempt to have rejected absentee ballots counted prior to certification was rejected by the state attorney general's office -- it is a matter for the courts, should Franken wish to challenge, not an administrative matter -- and today the state's Canvassing Board confirmed that Norm Coleman is up by 215 votes with all 87 counties reporting.

The required recount will begin tomorrow.

(The Franken campaign is claiming that the vote counts are incomplete in at least 49 counties, referring again to rejected absentee and mail-in ballots. It looks like the recount will proceed, though the board is planning to meet "relatively soon" to address Franken's request that those votes be included in the initial count. It's not clear to me how this meshes with the AG's opinion that rejected ballots must be challenged in court.)