In an election that the State Canvassing Board found was within 215 votes (in incumbent U.S. Sen. Coleman’s favor) after the initial canvass, the rival camps are now running virtually neck-and-neck in the amount of challenged ballots: Coleman has challenged 948; Franken, 945. The challenged ballots aren’t counted in the final total until the Canvassing Board reviews them.

Meanwhile, the margin between the candidates continued to hover between 100 and 200 votes, standing at 167 (with Coleman still in the lead) as of 8 p.m. Saturday — when the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie released its official figures for the day. (The Star Tribune keeps a different set of numbers based on its own information gathered before and after 8 p.m. at recount sites across the state.)

It’s so close that Democrats have asked voters overseas to call their local election offices in Minnesota to find out if their absentee ballots were rejected — and if they were, to relay that to the party immediately. The State Canvassing Board meets Wednesday to discuss the question of counting improperly rejected absentee ballots.