The Franken campaign is demanding the names of absentee voters based on one Beltrami county woman’s claim that her absentee ballot was wrongfully rejected, and some counties in Minnesota have complied, but after collecting some of those ballots the Franken campaign backed away from their challenge.

Here’s the initial report from the Grand Forks Herald:

An 84-year-old Beltrami County woman, whose election ballot was rejected, helped convince Al Franken’s campaign to go to court seeking the names of all Minnesotans whose ballots were not counted last week.

Franken campaign officials said the woman, a nursing home resident, told a campaign volunteer that her signature had changed due to a stroke after she first signed her voter registration forms. Her signature on absentee ballot paperwork did not match her signature for this election, so election officials rejected the ballot.

That example is being used as why the U.S. Senate candidate, a Democrat, wants to know about every rejected ballot.

Beltrami County handed over a list of voters with rejected ballots, one of about a dozen to comply with the campaign’s request. But many counties are refusing, so Franken today filed a lawsuit seeking Ramsey County to comply. If a judge orders Ramsey County, home of St. Paul, to turn over the list, the Franken campaign expects all other counties to follow.

A follow-up from the AP notes that Franken is backing away from this woman’s claims:

Franken’s lead attorney, Marc Elias, said the Franken campaign has already investigated the case of an 84-year-old woman in a Beltrami County nursing home. Elias said her ballot was rejected because of inconsistencies in the signatures, but the woman told the campaign that the difference could stem from a recent stroke.

Later Thursday, the campaign backed away from the example, saying the woman’s ballot had been rejected for a reason unrelated to her own signature.

What I want to know is: Why in the world was the Franken campaign given the names of absentee voters?  Aren’t our votes supposed to be secret in order to keep voters safe from potential thuggery from over zealous campaigns such as Al Franken’s?

Whither the sanctity of the ballot box?