With the margin between votes for Al Franken and for Norm Coleman running anywhere from 50 to 340 (according to the Franken campaign and the Star Tribune, respectively) in favor of Coleman to 4,108 in favor of Franken (via the Secretary of State’s “incomplete and unofficial” tally, which showed 93.75 percent of precincts recounted as of 8 p.m. Monday), every vote counts. So it’s not insignificant news that today Ramsey County discovered 200 171 ballots that weren’t counted on election night. Yesterday, Team Franken attorney Mark Elias said his focus this week would be addressing the issue of missing ballots, which he estimated to be around 1,000. He also expressed hope that there were so many votes still to be recounted in Ramsey County, which he says tends to vote “slightly blue.”

Update: MPR initially reported that 200 ballots were found; The UpTake, liveblogging a Franken press conference, reports that 171 ballots were found in Maplewood. MPR has since updated their story.

Update: While some in the liberal blogosphere are celebrating Franken’s current 4,108-vote lead, as reported by the Secretary of State’s office, it’s important to note that the figure, which came after yesterday’s tally that included recounts of bluer Minneapolis precincts, only reflects 91.13 percent of all ballots. Still, that figure is technically accurate, says Beth Fraser, Director of Governmental Affairs. “It’s misleading,” she said. “There are significant Republican precincts that haven’t yet been counted.” All tallies, however, should come with caveats: with nearly 6,000 challenged ballots, the vote could still go either way. Plus, the Franken campaign’s double-digit margin assumes that challenges by impartial election judges will stand, while the Star Tribune doesn’t make the same assumption.