Vote boldly, vote carefully, to ensure it counts

I’ve provided some tips to make sure that negligence, ignorance and manipulation don’t prevent your voice from being heard. 

Minnesotans have started to vote. They expect their votes will be counted, and mostly, they will be. But some votes will not be counted.

Negligence, ignorance and manipulation can cause a ballot to be invalid, or a potential voter not to vote. Some voters will self-disenfranchise. Informed and intelligent voting will minimize problems and ensure that ballots are properly cast and valid.

As a Supreme Court justice, I scrutinized ballots in several elections, including the 2008 U.S. Senate race and the 2010 race, each of which ended with a statewide recount. I reviewed thousands of ballots and saw firsthand why some were invalid. Continue reading.