As MinnPost colleague David Brauer reports in Daily Glean KSTP-TV has submitted Data Practices Act requests to counties statewide in hopes of examining, it seems, unopened ballots from the U.S. Senate race.

We reported on this twice earlier this month when Republican activist Michael Brodkorb filed similar requests with a handful of counties. We noted the specific law that seems to prohibit opening ballots. We then had Brodkorb explaining his side.

This Channel 5 request is directed at the counties, and not Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office. So, the SOS folks have got no dog in this fight ... for now.Still, the feeling within Ritchie's office is that ballots can't be opened now and that voter privacy is an issue; besides those ballots are with the counties.

The ballots are to be retained for 22 months and then can be destroyed, depending on each county's records retention policies.

Still, wouldn't we all love to know what's inside those ballots ... even though election judges and reps on either side of the election rejected them and even though neither the Franken nor Coleman side was able to convince the three-judge election contest panel that these ballots were legally cast?

That's the main point: Channel 5 or MinnPost could open these, but it could be totally irrelevant because the ballots were, in fact, rejected and not considered legal by a series of evaluations.

Before it's over, expect Attorney General Lori Swanson's office to weigh in on these Data Practices Act requests.