LIVE from Minnesota: Certifying The Vote

Nearly two months after the election, Minnesota will have a final vote total for the US Senate race. What it won't have is a US Senator. Monday the State Canvassing Board meets at 2:30 PM (streamed live here on The UpTake.org) to certify the vote totals. However, the Governor can not sign a certificate of election for at least seven days. If Al Franken's 225 vote lead holds up over Norm Coleman, Coleman's lawyers have already indicated they will file an election contest. Meaning it could be weeks, if not months until there is a clear winner.

Norm Coleman's term as US Senator ended at 11 AM Saturday while the final absentee ballots were counted.

The Coleman campaign has asked Minnesota's Supreme Court to allow more rejected absentee ballots be counted. The court has not scheduled a hearing on the motion, but did ask local election officials and the Franken campaign to file documents indicating if procedures had been properly followed this past week when previously rejected absentee ballots were reviewed for possible inclusion in the count. The responses from Franken and the local election offcials said that procedures had been properly followed and Hennepin County recommended the justices deny the Coleman campaign's motion.