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Tom Scheck
St. Paul, Minn.

Timeline: Minnesota's Senate recount

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Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has laid out a timeline to count wrongly rejected absentee ballots that could play a large part in determining the outcome of the U.S. Senate race.

Tuesday, Dec. 23 - The Minnesota Supreme Court hears oral arguments regarding duplicate ballots. Coleman's campaign wants the court to stop the canvassing board from counting duplicate ballots and also wants elections officials to go back and see if any ballots were counted twice.

Tuesday, Dec. 23 - Ritchie, Attorney General Lori Swanson, the Franken and Coleman campaigns and local elections officials present a motion to the Minnesota Supreme Court asking them to approve a revised plan regarding wrongly rejected absentee ballots.

Wednesday, Dec. 24 - Court approves revised timeline regarding rejected absentee ballots.

Wednesday, Dec. 24 - The campaigns wait for a ruling from the Supreme Court regarding duplicate ballots. This is expected to be done quickly since the court moves fast on elections issues.

Tuesday, Dec. 30 - The State Canvassing Board will address any lingering disagreements and suggestions from the campaigns regarding the recounted votes, challenges and final tallies. The board also intends to review and approve the recounted numbers as a whole. This will be the final number on the recount without absentees and duplicates. The board, however, will not declare a winner.

Friday, Jan. 2 - Local elections officials provide absentee ballots to the Secretary of State's office under the earlier suggested motion.

Sunday, Jan. 4 - The Secretary of State opens and counts wrongly rejected absentee ballots.

Monday, Jan. 5 - The State Canvassing Board will accept results from counted absentee ballots and will address challenges to rejected absentee ballots. They will also address any other issues as ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Tuesday, Jan. 6 - The U.S. Senate convenes with new senators, the canvassing board meets under a continuation of the previous day's agenda. Ritchie says he is not operating under any timeline and will only ask the Canvassing Board to approve a total that he is certain is as close to accurate as it can be.