Democracy in Action...Not the Most Nimble, but Nonetheless

You have to create an account to look at them, but the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a neat feature here where you can see and vote on actual ballots cast in Minnesota for the 2008 election held last month. It becomes glaringly obvious that the recounters' job is not an enviable one, and also that there are a lot of people out there who are either childish, stupid, or like to make meaningless statements.

The backstory:

The Senate seat up for election was bitterly battled over by Republican Norm Coleman and DFL (Democrat) Al Franken. The race was very close on election night, with Coleman eking out a razor thin victory. However, the ballot count was so close that a recount had to be held according to Minnesota law. At the time of this posting, Coleman has lost his lead to Franken, who now leads by a hair's breadth. The general consensus is that no matter who wins the official count, the other will automatically go to court to challenge it due to just how close the margin of victory will be. How it ends up is currently only the matter of speculation, but I find it all extremely interesting.

By the way, the picture on the very top of this web page was taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota by myself about 10 years ago. The river is the Mississippi River and the place is not far from the I35-W bridge which collapsed not too long ago. There's a new bridge up now in its place, but I have not yet seen it with my own eyes.