Shifting Vote Totals in Context

From the letters to the editor in today's Star Tribune:

The Recount: Evidence Is that Ritchie Runs an Accurate Election

The evidence is clear. Minnesota's voe counting has become far more efficient and accurate under Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The Coleman camp is raising an awful stink about the net increase of 550 or so votes for Al Franken during the canvassing period. But in 2006, Amy Klobuchar gained a net 2,854 votes. In 2000, Mark Dayton gained a net 2,369 votes.

And in 2002, under a Republican Secretary of State, Norm Coleman lost more than 10 times more votes in the canvassing period, a net of 8,920, to former Vice President Walter Mondale than he's lost to Al Franken.

--David Morris, Minneapolis