The five member state Canvassing Board denied a request by Al Franken's campaign to reconsider absentee ballots it claims were excluded from the initial vote count because of technicalities or administrative errors.  Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign said the board lacked power to revisit those votes.  Statewide, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie estimated 12,000 absentee ballots were rejected for various reasons.  Franken entered the recount trailing Coleman by 215 votes out of 2.9 million ballots.  About 80 percent have been counted with Coleman still in the lead.  However, there are still about 3,600 ballots that both campaigns have challenged that could determine the outcaome of this long, drawn-out race.  Read more here.