The recount in Meeker County ended around 6 p.m. Thursday night with a total of 58 challenged ballots.

According to numbers provided by the Meeker County Auditor's Office, recount officials ended Thursday's recount with 5,649 votes for Norm Coleman and 3,865 votes for Al Franken.

Because of the challenged ballots, both numbers are down from the Nov. 4 vote totals - when Coleman tallied 5,697 votes and Franken tallied 3,870.

During the recount, Meeker County judges found one ballot that was not counted election night, Loch said. Her office has not yet researched how the ballot was overlooked.

Franken observers challenged by far the majority of the ballots, challenging 51 votes for Coleman and other candidates. Coleman observers challenged seven votes for Franken and other candidates.

Challenged ballots included everything from tears to coffee stains to use of red ink, Meeker County Auditor Barb Loch said. Some ballots were also challenged for improper marking technique on insufficient fill-in of the circle.

The challenged ballots will now be sent to the State Canvassing board for review Dec. 16.

Loch said overall things went well, especially considering the high stakes involved.

As of 8 p.m. Thursday, Coleman had 534,475 votes statewide compared to Franken's 494,804 votes. Franken observers had challenged 374 ballots. Coleman observers had challenged 360. The numbers do not include Meeker County, which did not report its recount results until Friday morning.

The Thursday number represented about 42 percent of all state ballots.

Read more assessment from Loch and others in next week's Nov. 27 Independent Review.