In Tuesday's paper, we rhapsodized on how we as voters should try and restore our faith in the Electoral College before we condemn it for the after- effects of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. After all, the Electoral College is an institution of our democratic process, and for all of its faults it has served us well in determining the most powerful office in America.

That said, there are other institutions of our democratic process we're obliged to defend as well. Included in this is a candidate's right to request a sanctioned recount of his or her race. Recounts essentially are commonplace in the past four years, at the state and federal levels. To request a recount is nothing novel, it's wholly legal - and if anything - a measure to secure the proper returns.

Phil Thompson, a Democratic candidate for the MSU Board of Trustees, is in the throes of exercising that very right. On Election Day, Thompson lost by a narrow margin of the vote to Republican candidate Melanie Foster. The margin of victory is narrow enough - 27,500 votes according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State - for Thompson to ask for a recount, and we support his endeavor.

We don't want to hypothesize on whether Thompson actually won a spot on the MSU Board of Trustees. In fact, in all likelihood, the unofficial results probably will stand as is and Foster will sit on the board. But it's every right of a public office candidate to inquire about those results until they're documented and accountable. This isn't trivial or frivolous, grasping to the slim chances of a win for Thompson, it's merely his duty.

To be sure, the democratic process we use is not a perfect one. Just as it's our obligation to partake in civic duty, though, it's also our duty to exercise the rights we have. Thompson's motion for recount is exactly just that.