The Minnesota canvassing board will have very few challenges to examine when they meet Wednesday.
Republican Tom Emmer will remove about 650 challenges from the stack his volunteers challenged during last week's recount. That leaves only 131 Emmer challenges for the board to examine. (Update: the 131 includes challenges deemed frivolous.)
Emmer's attorney Eric Magnuson said in a letter to the board that, "Emmer table representatives cast a wide net in order to ensure that no valid challenges were lost; once counsel were able to review those challenges, we applied our broader perspective and made reasoned decisions regarding whether or not to pursue particular challenges."
The low number of challenges makes it ever more clear that Democrat Mark Dayton will end the recount with lead of around 9,000 votes. That means the only remaining issue between Dayton and becoming governor-elect, after the board completes its examination of challenges this week, is whether Emmer will file a lawsuit over the race.
Here's Magnuson's letter to the board:
Here's his list of challenges being withdrawn:
