By the end of the recount, each candidate had gained votes. In total, Coleman had challenged 3,377 ballots and Franken had challenged 3,278. These ballots were set aside until the State Canvassing Board could meet on December 16 to decide the fate of challenged ballots. Ritchie's office, however, insisted that each campaign voluntarily withdraw some of their challenges, due to the strain a large pile of ballot challenges would place on the State Canvassing Board. On December 3, Franken's campaign withdrew 633 of their challenges, and said that they would withdraw more at a later date. The next day, Coleman's campaign responded by withdrawing 650 challenges. By the time all of the ballots that Franken's campaign challenged were examined, only 420 challenges were left that had not been withdrawn, while Coleman's campaign had roughly 1,000. The Secretary of State's website had noted that none of the withdrawn ballot challenges were reflected in the running tally of the recount.