By the way, the opinion just came out explaining the Minnesota Supreme Court's ruling that rejected Tom Emmer's effort to force precincts to match the number of votes to signatures on polling rosters.

Read all 18 scintillating pages.

You can turn down the heat now.

From Emmer's concession speech:

Yes, the integrity of our elections is of supreme importance to the health of a representative republic. The citizens must have confidence in the election system and the outcome, whether they are pleased with the outcome or not. 

At the same time, it is imperative that we, and this from Jacquie [Emmer's wife] and I, allow the next Legislature and the next governor to move ahead with the people's business -- the business of governing this state.

The Supreme Court has ruled that local election officials may count names on voting rosters or receipts counting ballots against voters in each precinct. The court, however, left open the issue of reconciliation, acknowledging that that process was not performed in every precinct. You'll find it if you look at the opinion at the footnote of page six; it was in a footnote. Arguably, this leaves the door open for a lawsuit contesting the election.

Some have suggested that I should consider contesting the election if any good faith basis exists, because Minnesota might then have a Republican governor and a Republican Legislature until the contest is resolved. I disagree. 

We must address the questions raised by recent elections in this state, but I do not believe a delay in seating the next governor will help to unite us or move our state forward. While we should not be surprised if there are citizens who might still pursue claims to attempt to address the integrity of our election system, it will not be an election contest, and I will not be involved.

Instead, I will devote my time to bring public awareness to these issues and to the need for election reform, including, but not necessarily limited to, requiring a photo I.D. for voting. 

In the meantime, Mark Dayton is going to be seated as the next governor of the state of Minnesota, and it is our job to make sure he can be the best governor he can possibly be. That doesn't mean agreeing with him all the time -- I suspect there may be a disagreement or two -- but it does mean giving him and his administration the respect it deserves.

Mark Dayton was not elected to be governor of Minnesota Democrats. He was elected to be the governor of the state of Minnesota. We congratulate him and offer to help him in any way we can.