Minnesota's U.S. Senate recount continues

ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The recount in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race took a twist Tuesday when 171 ballots were found in a voting machine, narrowing Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken.

The ballots discovered in Maplewood apparently had gone uncounted because of equipment breakdown on Election Day, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis reported. Of the 171 votes, Franken, the Democratic candidate, received 91, Coleman, the incumbent Republican, 54, and 26 went to other candidates. Franken's net gain was 37 votes.

At first it appeared the additional votes, which had been kept in a secure location since the election, meant more people voted than were registered, but election officials determined some absentee voter registration cards had been misfiled.

Coleman had a 344-vote lead with 91.1 percent of the ballots counted heading into Tuesday and still led by 301 votes after the Maplewood ballots were found.

Franken has said he hopes rejected ballots will help close the gap and his camp claimed Tuesday to be within 50 votes of Coleman, Minnesotapost.com reported. His attorney, Marc Elias, said that unofficial margin was based on election judges' calls on ballots at the recount tables.

Coleman's lead is overshadowed by the nearly 6,000 challenges, the St., Paul Pioneer Press said. The state Canvassing Board, made up of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and four judges, is to meet Dec. 16 to resolve the challenged ballots, which haven't been included in the running recount totals. The recount itself it to be completed by Friday.

Both campaigns indicated Monday that they may soon withdraw some of the thousands of challenges they've made to disputed ballots, the Star Tribune reported.

The Franken campaign also is considering asking the U.S. Senate to decide the outcome. While Elias denied that any decision along that track had been made, he said "obviously, the Senate remains an option."