ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Democrat Al Franken's lead in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race has grown to 312 votes now that hundreds of absentee ballots have been added to the counting.
A three-judge panel ruled that the rejected absentee ballots should be opened and counted after hearing weeks of testimony in a lawsuit brought by Republican Norm Coleman.
Franken led by 225 votes going into Tuesday's count of those absentee ballots.
The judges allowed 351 absentees into the count and Franken picked up more of them than Coleman did.
Other issues are still pending in Coleman's lawsuit, and he has said he will appeal to the state Supreme Court if he loses.
