Deadline to deliver disputed absentee ballots is Friday
This Friday is the deadline for election officials to deliver wrongly-rejected absentee ballots to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office.
Local election officials throughout Minnesota have identified 1,350 properly cast absentee ballots which were not counted in Minnesota's November election.
In response to an Al Franken campaign petition, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered that those ballots must be included in the recount.
Under the plan approved by the high court for counting the absentee ballots, ballots that both campaigns agree were wrongly rejected are to be delivered, unopened, to the Secretary of State's office by Friday.
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The plan requires the Secretary of State to count the ballots by January 4.
Both campaigns will then have a chance to challenge any ballot decisions they disagree with before the five member State Canvassing Board.
That's the same forum in which other ballot challenges were heard.
It is possible Minnesota officials will not be done with the recount by January 6, the day the new class of Senators will be sworn into office.
