St. Paul recorder., 1963-01-31
Abuses Revealed By
Election Recount

ElGCL1On RGCOunL
The recount in the governor election aside from
determining the outcome of the race has had some
interesting consequences and 1--WE hope) taught
valuable lessons.
One of the lessons is that we need to be a great
deal more Wgilant and aggressive in safeguarding
the honesty of elections and in challenging those
who would cut the in order to advance their
partisan aims
In doing this off to unfortunate start.
The Minnesota Supreme Court majority has put its
stamp of approval upon a maneuver that clearly
violates the election law.
This the opening of ballot boxes in precincts
selected by the Republican state organization office
and the recounting Of votes by county canvassng
boards after they had filed their reports to the state
canvassing boards. Though the minority of the Su-
preme Court pointed out that there authorz-
alton in the law for the procedure followed Chief
Justice Oscar Knutson ordered the state canvassng
board to count the amended returns
The county boards neglected to follow the law
in the following respects:
They opened the boxes and counted the bal
lots in the absence of of the interested parties
In some cases they did not even notify of the
parties in were both parties properly served
They did not specify (by resolution as re-
quired by law, otherwise) the obvious errors
IN the QueSuOneQ precincts Wncn are Cne only oasis
for reopenng the boxes Indeed it fairly obvi
GUS that there obvious errors" in most
instances.
. They did not file with the amended returns
the minutes of their meetings copies of the resolu-
ton specifying the obvious errors" proof of
service upon the interested parties, specified and
required by law.
. They opened the ballot boxes not upon their
initiative but upon the initiative of Of the in
terested parties, and they opened them after filing
the results of their with the state board
in procedure nowhere authorized by the law
The law is a good one. 1t would, if the Supreme
Court would permit, safeguard us against manipula-
tons of the vote by party or the other. Errors
in the count are bound to occur. If the law is fol-
lowed such should normally be sef-adjusting.
The county canvassing boards charged with the
responsibility of checking the returns for obvious
errors" and correcting them. Those that they miss
will presumably be both sides of the contest But
If one side can engage sharpshooter to re-examine
the returns after they have been filed and get
lected precincts reopened at will then it seems obvi
that all the corrections will be one side and
the total result will be distorted. This is precisely
what the Supreme Court authorized in ordering the
State canvassing board to count the amended re-
turns.
Some other strange things have turned up such
as ballot marked in ink for all offices but COVER
nor and in pencil for the governor candidate of the
opposite party from all the other candidates voted
for The voter partisan that he had to change
to pencil to vote against his party? Or did somebody
else make the pencil mark?
The manipulation Of absent voter ballots ap-
pears however to be the most serious Here It
clear that there have been widespread violations Of
the law And the law specifies that any violation
shall be felony We hope that those who have tried
to subvert elections in this way Will be prose-
cuted vigorously The violations include wholesale
voting by party workers in the names Of rest-home
patients counting Of Illegal absent voter ballots, and
other sharp practices Again. the law is clear, and 1t
Is a good law
The law provides for the delivery of the ballots
to the precincts election day, by the postal mail
carrier. 1t provides for comparison Of the signature
on the envelope to the signature the application
for the ballot In order to establish the authenticity
Of the voter 1t provides for the affidavit Of wit
ness that he has seen the ballot unmarked, that he
has either assisted the disabled voter to vote that
he has not seen how the voter marked his ballot.
Absentee ballots turned up in the recount evid-
entity were marked in wholesale numbers by other
than the infirm hands that signed applications. In
some cases such ballots counted although they
were not delivered by mail as required by law In
order to prevent abuses They could FOR all know,
have been turned in after the election
The legislature has difficult problem to rein
state the principles Of the election law eroded by
Chief Justice Oscar Knutson's ruling and possibly
by practices that have grown up in the handling of
absentee ballots But In the last analysis the abuses
and violations will be corrected by vigilance in the
precincts, where and when the votes are counted.
We believe that the revelations in the recount will
have most wholesome effect at that level
ST. PAUL RECORD