First, the Board voted unanimously to count the 133 ballots that went missing last week. These ballots came from a Franken-friendly precinct in Minneapolis, and Franken stood to lose a net 46 votes if they were not included.

Later in the day, another unanimous vote instructed counties to include in the recount the estimated 1,500 absentee ballots that were improperly rejected on November 4. With incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman’s official lead at 192 votes, these ballots could easily tip the balance.

Next week, the Board will review the more than 4,000 ballots that have been challenged by the two campaigns. The Franken camp believes that the resolution of the challenges will net the Democrat several hundred votes — last week, when the official count put Coleman ahead by 295 votes, Franken claimed a four-vote lead based on his campaign’s prediction for the challenged ballots.

All in all, there’s considerable reason for the Franken campaign to be optimistic. We’ll keep you posted.