UPDATE after the jump.

This is what the Coleman privacy policy used to say: “We do not retain records of contributors’ credit card numbers.” But, as the current policy states: “We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time …”

UPDATE: The change in Coleman’s policy regarding the storage of donors’ credit card data appears to have occurred sometime between January 23, 2008 and (thanks to a tipster for this) February 11, 2008. DataBreaches.net notes that the earliest entry in Coleman’s leaked donor database is from March 19, 2008. So the leaked database apparently includes entries made only after Coleman dropped the no-data-saving policy.

Here is the full text from the Coleman for Senate privacy policy from January 23, 2008:

Security
The servers that house ColemanForSenate.com are maintained in a manner that safeguards the information in our databases effectively.

Contributions
In particular, when you contribute online at ColemanForSenate.com, the transaction is processed using encrypted code on a secure donation site, on a secure and dedicated web server. The personal information that is requested is the same that we would request for donating through the mail. We do not retain records of contributors’ credit card numbers.

Personal Information
Unless you voluntarily provide us with any personal information, such as your e-mail address, this site does not collect personal information about you without your knowledge.

When you visit our site, we collect the following information: The name of the domain from which you access the Internet (for example, aol.com, if you are connecting from an America Online account). The date and time you access our site. The Internet address of the web site from which you linked directly to our site or the Internet address of the computer used to link to our site. This information is used for Site Management purposes only.

NOTICE: Unless you choose to provide such information, we do not collect or maintain personal information about you when you visit our site. If you send us an e-mail message or complete a web form containing personal information, we collect and store the personal information which you choose to provide, such as your mailing address, e-mail address and the content of any request for information or any comments you may have.

Use of Information
If you choose to provide any personal information, such as your mailing address or phone number, we may use that information to contact you.

Here’s the full text from the current Coleman for Senate Web site “Privacy Policy” page:

Privacy Policy
We at ColemanforSenate.com are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. Below you will find our online privacy policy. If you have questions about this policy, please let us know.

Personal Information
This website does not collect any personal or identifiable information about you, such as an e-mail address, unless you voluntarily provide us with that information.

When you visit ColemanforSenate.com, we collect generic information that allows us to improve the value of this website. The website collects information such as which website linked you directly to this website, the date and time visits occur, the name of the domain from which you accessed this website (such as Comcast.com, or Aol.com if you use those services), and which web pages visitors view. This information is used for site management only.

If you voluntarily chose to provide personal information through this website (such as a mailing address, e-mail address, name, or phone number), this information will be safeguarded as outlined below and may be used to contact you.

The Federal Election Commission requires us to collect particular information from every donor who gives us money. For this reason, we collect information that can be directly tied to a particular person. The information required includes Names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses and any changes that may occur to the law. This information is only given to those who require this information.

Newsletter
The ColemanforSenate.com website provides an e-mail newsletter to those interested in staying updated on the campaign. This newsletter is only sent to those who voluntarily signup to receive it. People who receive the newsletter may opt-out of the newsletter at any time via the website.

Text Messaging
The ColemanforSenate.com website provides update via text messages to those interested in staying updated on the campaign. The text messages are only sent to those who voluntarily signup to receive them. People who receive these text messages may opt-out of the service at any time via the website.

External Sites
ColemanforSenate.com may link to other websites and blogs that we do not control and you will have to review their own privacy policies as we are not responsible for them.

Use of Cookies
Cookies are used to personalize the site and enhance your experience with it. A cookie is very small text file placed on your computer. Cookies do not contain any personal information about you. You can opt-out of our use of cookies by disabling cookies in your browser settings.

Security
In order to protect information collected by this website, we use commercially reasonable tools and techniques to safeguard against unauthorized intrusions.

Our servers are located in secure locations where a very limited number of people have access to them. The data stored on the servers is restricted to only those who have a reasonable need to have the data.

When transacting credit card information, we protect your information during the transfer process by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which digitally encrypts information you enter.

Policy
We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time but the most current privacy policy will always be posted on the website or you can contact us and request one.

But have you heard even one word yet from those voters?

“Oh, crap.”

Well, now you’ve heard two words.

Paula Guerra of St. Paul left for Utica, N.Y., on Oct. 11 to help her mother care for her ailing father. Her husband, Chris Farley, applied online to have Ramsey County send her an absentee ballot. It arrived two weeks before the election; Guerra mailed the ballot back the same day.

Then on Halloween, just four days before Election Day, Ramsey County returned Guerra’s ballot to her, unopened — rejected due to improper witnessing. Also included in the packet from the county were a new ballot and a page of instructions. “Oh, crap, I didn’t know this,” Guerra recalls thinking.

“There was a yellow sheet that they put in,” Guerra says. “It wasn’t in there the first time.”

The instructions explained that absentee voters who are out of state need to get their ballots signed by a notary public if no registered Minnesota voter is handy.

“I just had my sister sign as a witness,” Guerra said. Her sister is a New York resident. So this time Guerra got her mother-in-law, a notary public, to sign and stamp the ballot envelope.

“My God, you want to vote,” said the woman at the post office counter the next day, where Guerra paid a $15 overnight rate to send her second ballot back to Ramsey County.

It was supposed to arrive by Monday, or Tuesday morning, Election Day, at the latest.

“I’m really hoping it was counted,” Guerra says. “I wasn’t that concerned about Obama. It was for the Senate race. I knew it was going to be tight. It was on all the news shows.”

UPDATE: Guerra called Ramsey County after this post appeared to learn the status of her ballot. See this followup post. 

She said her ballot’s marked for Franken.

That instructions were missing from the first absentee ballot mailing appears to have been a mistake. The Ramsey County Elections office tells the Minnesota Independent that including the sheet is standard.

But Guerra and Farley say that her mishap might have been avoided had the ballot return envelope itself carried clearer directions. Another shortcoming they see, as Farley noted in a comment posted at MnIndy, is that the return envelope doesn’t provide space for a notary’s stamp and signature.

Ramsey County keeps records of rejected absentee ballots returned to voters, I was told today by an official who also invited Guerra to call to confirm her ballot was received and counted. Getting the names of absentee voters like Guerra who had ballots rejected but who may not have been as persistent — and may not have have been properly rejected in the first place — is the goal of a suit by the Franken campaign that was heard this morning in Ramsey County District Court, with the judge ruling in Franken’s favor this afternoon.

The story behind Guerra’s rejected absentee ballot demonstrates the difficulties that even well-intentioned and highly motivated voters can have from afar. Much of the recent debate over the Coleman-Franken U.S. Senate recount that commenced today in Minnesota has centered on whether the state will also examine absentee ballots to find (and count) any that local officials rejected improperly.

While voters’ intent on ballots that have been accepted is held sacred under Minnesota election law, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has made clear that the best intentions of rejected absentee voters to properly cast ballots are not. Absentee ballots that fail simple rules about signing, witnessing and mailing simply don’t get counted.

And while one problem appears to be the lack of a mechanism to promptly remedy improper rejections, Paula Guerra’s case suggests another problem: following absentee voting rules isn’t made as simple as it should be.