Four judges named to Senate race canvassing board

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Four judges will join Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie on the state canvassing board next week to certify results in the state’s U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and his DFL challenger, Al Franken.

At last count, only 206 votes separated the two candidates.

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson, Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson, Ramsey County District Court Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin and Ramsey County District Court Assistant Chief Judge Edward Cleary will be part of the canvassing board.

Under state law, the canvassing board is headed by the secretary of state and must include two state Supreme Court justices and two district court judges.

The board, which will resolve disputes over ballots that were challenged during the recount process and certify the results, will convene at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Therecount will begin the next day.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty named Magnuson chief justice in June. He previously was in private practice in Minneapolis; before that, he served as chairman of the Commission on Judicial Selection from 2003 until earlier this year, also a Pawlenty appointment.

Anderson was appointed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 1998 by Gov. Arne Carlson. Pawlenty named him to the Supreme Court in 2004.

Gearin was elected a Ramsey County District Court judge in 1986 after 10 years as a prosecutor in the Ramsey County attorney’s office; Cleary was appointed as a district court judge in 2002 by Gov. Jesse Ventura, and was elected to the post in 2004.