Dispute continues in Minn. as recount ends

ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The recount in the Minnesota race for U.S. Senate ended Friday, although the battle between Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman didn't.

The state Canvassing Board must still rule on thousands of challenged ballots, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. There is also a 133-vote discrepancy between the election night count and the recount in one Minneapolis precinct.

The newspaper's count gave Coleman a 251-vote lead through the end of Thursday out of nearly 3 million votes cast Nov. 4. The last ballot counted in Wright County, ending the hand recount, was for a third-party candidate, Dean Barkley of the Independence Party.

State elections director Gary Posey announced "We're done" at 11:29 a.m. after putting stickers on challenged ballots.

The Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet Dec. 16. The election could also end up in court.

Franken, who grew up in Minneapolis before going on to Harvard and a career with "Saturday Night Live" in New York, challenged Coleman, who was elected in 2002 after his opponent, Sen. Paul Wellstone, then the incumbent, was killed in a plane crash.