Canvassing board rejects absentee count

The five members of the State Canvassing Board have unanimously rejected a request to include rejected absentee ballots in the ongoing U.S. Senate recount.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said there may be more than 10,000 rejected ballots, possibly as many as five percent of the absentee ballots counted. A little under 10 percent of voters cast their ballots that way.

The board said that it was up for the courts to sort out the facts in the case, but that the board would only count what were

"I think we'd all like to avoid a lawsuit, but I think the statutory electory laws force us into this decision," said assistant Ramsey County District Court judge Edward Cleary.

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