Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie announced yesterday members of the State Canvassing Board that will oversee the recount in the race between GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic satirist Al Franken. Coleman currently has a 206-vote lead.
By law, the Canvassing Board is comprised of Ritchie as its chairman, two state Supreme Court Justices and two district court judges. The board will meet Tuesday afternoon and the recount of nearly 3 million ballots will officially begin Wednesday at 74 locations across the state. Both campaigns intend to have lawyers and observers at each of the locations.
All ballots should be counted and the results transmitted to the state by December 5. The canvassing board will meet again beginning December 16 to hear challenges on individual ballots. Ritchie hopes that they will finish by December 19.
Minnesota uses optical scan machines in which voters fill in ovals on the ballot. Ballots likely to be questioned as those in which the ovals were marked with a check or “X or circled, and perhaps not read by the scanners. According to state
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