The automatically triggered statewide manual recount started this morning. Every ballot, all 2.1 million cast, gets a second look as elections officials separate piles of ballots for Emmer and Dayton by hand over the next two weeks.

The Secretary of State’s website will post the results of the recount from each day on its website.

If you’re an election junkie, you can watch a livestream of the Hennepin and Ramsey county recounts.

Here’s a handy list of things to look for in the next few weeks related to the recount.

Minnesota law requires the recount, but Tom Emmer could have waived his right to a recount. If he had, he would have saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of the 2008 US Senate recount was 16 cents a ballot, or $460,000 of taxpayer money.

Emmer again claimed he won’t challenge the results of the recount just to delay seating Mark Dayton. He told the Pioneer Press,

“I don’t want to put myself or others through a futile process.”

Let’s hope he’s true to his word and doesn’t let Tony Sutton run the recount challenge show.

Photo credit: Chuckumentary