The 12 Dates of Recount: Details for regional confabs on absentee votes

Attorneys for Franken and Coleman inspect ballots (The Uptake)

Here, direct from Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie himself, are the dates and times of a dozen public meetings on the U.S. Senate recount to be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week at locations around the state. At these regional meetings, the campaigns of Al Franken and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman will hash out with county election officials which of as many as 1,600 wrongly rejected absentee ballots should be included in the final vote tally. That’s in accordance with a state Supreme Court order that gave the two campaigns a role in deciding whether uncounted absentee ballots that local officials have determined were turned aside for no valid reason should be opened and counted.

Mark your calendars and make your travel plans for the dates and times listed after the jump. These are the regional recount meetings mentioned but not listed in the Dec. 27 Star Tribune. Check back for an update as to whether The Uptake will provide online video for any of these meetings. Note that the meetings in Beltrami and Dakota counties will take place over two days. The last meeting on the list, at the Secretary of State’s office in St. Paul, is the occasion for opening the ballots that all parties have agreed at the regional meetings should be counted.

TUESDAY, DEC. 30
County Board Room, St. Louis County Courthouse
100 N. Fifth Ave., Duluth, Minn.
9 a.m.

Beltrami County Board Room, County Administration Building
701 Minnesota Ave., Bemidji, Minn. 
10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Council Board Chambers and Conference Room 1, Olmsted County Government Center
151 Fourth St. SE, Rochester, Minn.
1 p.m.

Kandiyohi County Government Center
2200 23rd St. NE, Willmar, Minn.
1:30 p.m.

County Board Room, Sherburne County Government Center
13880 Highway 10, Elk River, Minn.
8:30 a.m.

Room 710, Anoka County Government Center
2100 Third Ave., Anoka, Minn.
9 a.m.

Dakota County Board Room
1590 Highway 55, Hastings, Minn.
1 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31

Dakota County Board Room
1590 Highway 55, Hastings, Minn.
9 a.m. (continued from Tuesday)

Location to be determined, Wright County
Buffalo, Minn.
9 a.m.

First Floor Auditorium, Blue Earth County Government Center
410 S. Fifth St., Mankato, Minn.
10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Multiple rooms, Otter Tail County Government Service Center
500 W. Fir Ave., Fergus Falls, Minn.
9 a.m.

Meeting Rooms 1 and 2, Crow Wing County Land Services Building
322 Laurel St., Brainerd, Minn.
10 a.m.

Room to be determined, Polk County Government Center
612 N. Broadway, Suite 207, Crookston, Minn.
10 a.m.

FRIDAY, JAN. 2

Beltrami County Board Room, County Administration Building
701 Minnesota Ave., Bemidji, Minn.
10 a.m.–3 p.m. (second meeting)

180 State Office Building, Secretary of State’s Office
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., St. Paul
10 a.m.