Supreme Court rejects DFL petition

The Minnesota Supreme Court rightfully rejected an appeal from the Minnesota DFL to remove Donald Trump and his running mate from Minnesota’s general election ballot.
The DFL had asked that the names be removed on what amounts to a technicality — claiming that the Republican Party had not properly selected alternate electors at its state convention. Republican Party leadership did appoint those electors in August, after discovering the error. But state law requires that the appointments be made at state conventions, so the Republicans did, indeed, technically err.
Neither major party did well in picking their presidential candidates, and it would have been fine with us if neither Trump nor Clinton was on the ballot.
However, those are the party-backed candidates, and they ought to be on the ballot.
We find the DFL’s appeal to have Trump and Pence removed from the ballot the latest trick in trying to manipulate elections. It’s a disturbing trend. The DFL and the Republican Party are already split along party lines as to whether more stringent proof of residency will deter voters, or if it will make elections more honest.
 It was also troubling to find out that Libertarian Party had to petition several states to get presidential candidate Gary Johnson on the ballot.
If there was ever a need for uniformity in the election process, it is for that of the presidential race. Every qualified presidential candidate should be on every ballot in every state, regardless of state idiosyncracies in conducting elections.
There is no doubt that there needs to be some election reform, and with the advent of the electronic media age, it’s time to start looking at new ways to cast our ballots, and to verify that those casting those ballots are qualified voters.
But outside of that, we ought not to be trying to ban names from a ballot, particularly on technical errors.
That would be a disservice to everyone who wants to exercise their privilege and right to vote.