Canvassing board will again meet to discuss rejected absentee ballots

The five-member statewide canvassing board — charged with overseeing the recount process in the U.S. Senate race — will meet a week from Friday to discuss the fate of absentee ballots that were wrongly rejected by local election officials.

Last week the panel declined to include such ballots in the recount, as urged by Al Franken’s campaign. But the canvassing board left open the possibility of taking action on the disqualified ballots at a subsequent hearing. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie ordered local election officials to sort rejected absentee ballots into five piles — indicating either the reason that a ballot was disqualified or that there was no legitimate grounds for the vote not being counted. Under Minnesota law there are only four reasons for which a absentee ballot can be rejected.