Fireworks at the Supreme Court and other incendiary reports

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled quickly and decisively 5-zip against the first, and so far only, challenge by the Tom Emmer campaign to the gubernatorial election results.

A MinnPost report by Jay Weiner again is the credible and interesting report I am relying on. He even offers a little "dark and stormy night" drama in this one. Hey, it's one way to make public affairs reporting interesting!

What I found interesting about the ruling was that it was issued without an opinion, so as "not to impede the orderly election process." The court seemed to be hinting that another challenge might have to really provide earth shattering new information, or the court, mostly Pawlenty-appointed, would reject that as well. Just my guess, though.

In my opinion, any further challenge without such significant backing will come off as frivolous to the judges, and when judges think you're wasting their time, the don't get mad, they get even, or they get mad and even.

I've seen many a judge use the rule that "their impartiality ends where your frivolity begins."

News reports called the ruling from Pawlenty-appointees "terse." Maybe it's payback for Emmer who called them "activist" last year after they ruled Pawlenty's unallotment was illegal. Pawlenty was kinder but said the ruling was "unwise."

Republicans challenge at their peril here. As I mentioned in Wednesday's editorial, "voters can forgive politicians for a lot of things, but not for denying them the right to have their vote counted." Any challenges from Emmer, at this point, seem to be playing with fire near a propane tank.

There's some sound reasoning behind a recount of votes making a difference with regard to the Emmer petition and several counties filed information to that effect.

Recount wouldn't stack up

Here's the good info from a solid Pioneer Press report on the issue by Jason Hoppin.

Noteworthy is Blue Earth County's own expert Patty O'Connor, election director.

 In Anoka County, election judges were able to reconcile the ballots in all precincts but one. Out of 131,700 votes, officials said there was no evidence that the sole extra ballot was cast by anyone other than a legitimate voter.

In Ramsey County, officials said there were just five unexplained ballots out of more than 192,000 cast but that there was no reason to toss out those five.

In Hennepin County, Minnesota's largest, officials found discrepancies in 15 precincts for a total of 22 ballots and said they would work to resolve the discrepancies but did not want to throw out votes.

Together Anoka, Hennepin and Ramsey County cast nearly 800,000 votes in the Nov. 2 election, or about 39 percent of the statewide total. With Emmer needing to close a nearly 9,000-vote gap, they found just 28 unexplained ballots between them.

Some local officials contacted by the Pioneer Press said they also have found few extra ballots. Officials in Goodhue County, which follows the procedure sought by the GOP, found discrepancies, but none that could not be explained. And Carver County officials found only a few extra ballots but said they appeared to be caused by election judges themselves forgetting to sign the register when they voted.

In an affidavit, Hennepin County election manager Rachel Smith argued that counting voter receipts is actually a more accurate way of tallying voters than counting signatures, calling the method "universally preferred."

That was backed up by others, including Blue Earth County Auditor Patty O'Connor, who said the problem with counting signatures is that voters sometimes don't sign the register, even though they are required by law to do so.

"You have to remember, I'm in outstate Minnesota, where we all know each other," O'Connor said, adding that it's easy to forget to follow the letter of the law when chit-chatting with a friendly face. "The wife signs and the husband doesn't, and off they go."