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WASHINGTON — With the latest projections showing incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., clinging to a lead of a handful of votes, Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race headed deeper into political limbo Thursday, raising the possibility that the contest could still be undecided when the rest of the class of 2008 is sworn in Jan. 6.

Election officials said they are unlikely to finish the recount in the race between Coleman and Democrat Al Franken before Dec. 30, and the state’s Supreme Court issued a verdict mandating the inclusion of perhaps more than 1,000 absentee ballots that had been rejected, making it appear likely that the process could take even longer.

As Coleman challenged dozens of additional ballots Thursday, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said the state board conducting the recount could not meet its goal of ruling on the contested ballots today.

“The only real concern is accuracy and transparency,” he said in a telephone interview during a lunch break in the hand recount. “Our job is to make sure we are absolutely certain how Minnesotans voted.”

Once the recount is finished, state officials could declare a winner, with some estimates predicting a single- digit margin out of more than 2.9 million votes cast. The loser then would have seven days to contest the outcome. But the court’s ruling could add even more time to the recount.

It represented a partial legal victory for Franken, who has sought to include the rejected votes because his campaign had pushed early voting by absentee ballot. The candidates and officials must now sort through more than 12,000 rejected absentee ballots to determine which ones were wrongly refused. Officials estimate that more than 1,000 such ballots were improperly rejected.

Even after those votes are added to the count, the candidates may then challenge them before the canvassing board.