Posted: 05/29/09 01:13, Edited: 05/29/09 01:15
by Dave Mindeman
When you cannot get the desired final result, then question the integrity of the process that produced it.
That would seem to be the new philosphy of the Minnesota GOP. Now, they have decided that the entire Minnesota system of voter registration and data processing needs to be questioned. So,of course, more lawsuits must ensue.
Why else would Republicans keep losing?
This new lawsuit against Mark Ritchie, the current Secretary of State, throws out some big numbers.....
The suit, filed Thursday, says that the state's voter registration system has not been adequately updated and that vote totals from canvassing boards exceed the stated number of registered voters by 406,398. Ritchie disputed the claims.
Now 400,000 plus is a big number. But, hmmm. let's see...Minnesota has same day registration. This was a particularly heavy vote in 2008.... lots of new people and additionally...
we still have a damn Senate race STILL GOING ON!
But besides all that, there is something awfully suspicious about this entire court action:
Aitkin County was listed in the report as having zero registered voters and 9,455 certified ballots. But Auditor Kirk Peysar said his county had reported its registered voters and that the number matched the ballots.
The people involved with filing the lawsuit come from Minnesota Majority.... just a slight right wing bias....slightly. Now, a simple common sense check would tell them that there are more than "zero" registrations in Aitkin County and that they probably got a bad data source. But, heck, why bother checking the data.
In addition:
In St. Louis County, Elections Director Paul Tynjala said the county's results also were up to date. "I have no idea why they wouldn't show up," he said. Minnesota Majority's research showed the county, a DFL stronghold, with 119,435 certified ballots and zero registered voters posted in the system.
Is anybody checking Minnesota Majority's research methods? They are probably checking numbers that have not been updated.
And of course, Mary Kiffmeyer, the former GOP Secretary of State has to weigh in:
Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, a former secretary of state, isn't part of the lawsuit but said she supports the action. She said there was "no excuse" for not updating the voter registration system and reconciling ballot discrepancies six months after one of the most drawn-out and heavily litigated U.S. Senate races in history.
No excuse?
Norm Coleman has filed every legal method he can think of to keep this Senate seat unfilled. Ritchie sat for weeks on the recount board. Election officials from several counties were coming before the three judge panel in Coleman's court contest. Ballots and records have been held in abeyance while going through this laborious process....
and Kiffmeyer says there is "no excuse"?
This is really getting old. The Minnesota Republican party and its cohorts have sunk to unimaginable depths. Sore losers is just too mild a term anymore.
Minnesota's election system has worked well. Nothing is perfect and when you spend all your waking hours looking for flaws, you will certainly find some.
I hope that someone keeps track of all the money this State is spending on legal matters that keep Al Franken out of the Senate and Minnesota's election system slandered.
The Minnesota Republican party... the party that talks forever about "waste" in government is producing enough to fill the sewers.
