Minnesota senate recount begins next week

It’s a race that breaths life into the phrase “every vote counts.“
   
Republican Norm Coleman is leading Democrat Al Franken by just over 200 votes out of nearly 3 million in Minnesota’s Senate race—a margin of seven-thousandths of 1 percent.
   
And the chairman of a board which will ultimately decide who won is promising the body will be “extraordinarily nonpartisan.“

Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie chose a canvassing board that includes himself, two state Supreme Court justices appointed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and two county judges.
   
The razor-thin margin in the race triggers an automatic recount and the board meets Tuesday to certify the machine-counted tally before officially ordering a manual recount that will start the next day.
   
A month later, the panel will reconvene to determine the fate of ballots challenged during the recount.