The Republican Party of Iowa is helping recruit volunteers to monitor Minnesota’s looming senate recount on behalf of Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign. “Vounteers urgently needed!” reads the heading on an email sent out by the state party yesterday. The Iowa GOP is seeking two-week commitments from individuals beginning on Monday.

The recount is slated to start on Wednesday. There are expected to be roughly 120 locations across the state where ballots will be manually inspected by local election officials to determine which candidate voters intended to support. Authorized representatives from the campaigns of Coleman and Al Franken will have the ability to challenge any decisions that they deem questionable.

The Franken campaign is assembling its own team of recount observers. According to spokeswoman Colleen Murray, they have lined up more than 1,000 volunteers to help monitor the process,  including 250 attorneys.