Subd. 3. Eligibility certificate.

A certificate of eligibility to vote by absentee ballot shall be printed on the back of the return envelope. The certificate shall contain a statement to be signed and sworn by the voter indicating that the voter meets all of the requirements established by law for voting by absentee ballot. The certificate shall also contain a statement signed by a person who is registered to vote in Minnesota or by a notary public or other individual authorized to administer oaths stating that:

(1) the ballots were displayed to that individual unmarked;

(2) the voter marked the ballots in that individual’s presence without showing how they were marked, or, if the voter was physically unable to mark them, that the voter directed another individual to mark them; and

(3) if the voter was not previously registered, the voter has provided proof of residence as required by section 201.061, subdivision 3.

Ask a few questions before jumping to conclusions about “fraud”.

Maybe there are flaws in Minnesota election laws that would not stand scrutiny as Florida’s clearly did not in 2000. But before we start making comparisons with the recounts, let’s at least make sure there are comparable absurdities in the laws. So far, Minnesota’s election laws look way better than Florida’s.

The recount has not even started which is something I did not realize until last week, long after this webblog and the other media were reporting these narrowing gaps between the Coleman and Franken tallies after November 4. Don’t assume people understand that the narrowing gaps relate to the unofficial counts before the recount. The recount is different. It hasn’t started yet. It starts next week. Let’s make that clear. All of these comments and posturing may be moot after the recount.

So far, nothing anybody has said has risen to level of Florida’s Secretary of State Katherine Harris scrubbing the voter rolls of “convicted felons” who in 5 out of 6 cases were not convicted felons at all but people whose names maybe sounded like a felon or some such. In other words, the Florida election was fatally flawed for reasons besides the incomplete recount: it was flawed by voter suppression; people who never got to vote because they were registered but disqualified because of a false identity. Nothing like that is being raised in this election.

The reason the 2000 Florida election will forever live in infamy is because the Republican Party resisted to the end all the way to the infamous Republican Supreme Court to prevent “every vote from being counted.” The Republican Supreme Court voted 5-4 to end the recount and prevent a true and valid election from occurring.

In my opinion, Mark Ritchie is doing everything in his power to make sure that this recount ensures that every vote is recounted and does reflect the “intent of the voter”, Republican or Democrat. Watch “Recount”. The Republican Party does not care about the “intent of the voter’ it only cares about winning, by hook or by crook.

Did you ever tell your children to proof their school work before they turned it in? And if so, why?