This appeared on the editorial page of Today's Washington Post:
Wednesday, August 31, 2005; Page A22

In his Aug. 22 op-ed column, Robert D. Novak wrote that then-Rep. John Thune (R) lost the 2002 South Dakota Senate race against Sen. Tim Johnson (D) "by 524 votes thanks to questionable election procedures," but he didn't delineate what procedures were questionable or who was responsible for them.

Our office has corrected Mr. Novak on this in the past. The two elected officials charged with ensuring fairness in South Dakota elections -- the secretary of state and the attorney general (both Republicans) -- have stated that the 2002 election was fair.

Further, Mr. Thune -- now a senator -- to his credit has never argued that the election was lost because of questionable procedures, although others encouraged him to do so. The 2002 race was extremely close but fair, and Mr. Novak did a disservice to The Post's readers by stating otherwise.

DREY SAMUELSON