The Argus Leader has a story on Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson’s continued goofiness, as today she wants to spend a bunch of money hand-counting every Minnehaha County vote from the June 4 primary:
Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson says she’s planning on performing a hand-counted audit of the 13,058 ballots cast in the county’s June 4 primary election.
Anderson informed county officials of the plan at Tuesday’s meeting of the county’s canvassing board, saying that as long as she’s within her budget she has the authority to decide to go above and beyond the state requirements, which call for auditing five percent of precincts.
But the item that grabbed more of my attention in the story was buried at the end, as it related to some of the election night interference that was going on from election conspiracy group SD Canvassing:
The group’s president, Jessica Pollema, made two challenges in Minnehaha County on June 4, calling for ballots to be rejected in precincts 4-16 and 5-16, claiming that the voters didn’t live in Sioux Falls.
The challenge in 5-16 was rejected, but Anderson told board members on Monday that 132 ballots had been rejected in 4-16.
WHOOOOAAAA… hold on here. The Argus buried the lede in this story. In one of the lowest participation elections of 30 years, 132 ballots were rejected in one precinct based on a challenge from the election nuts who hold the auditor’s chain? I don’t think anyone is paying attention, because that represents a TREMENDOUS number of the ballots cast in that precinct.
Go back to the story they ran from June 5th..
Pollema said she also challenged absentee ballots at precinct 4-16, which used the Word of Life Pentecostal Church as its polling location. She claimed her challenge was successful and resulted in dozens of ballots being rejected.
It is unclear if those absentee ballots were truly rejected, and if they were, how many.
Pollema and Anderson were seen talking together to some degree: An Argus Leader reporter was speaking with Pollema while ballots were being counted, when Anderson interrupted to ask if the canvassing group leader knew whether some or all of the challenged ballots were tossed. Anderson later handed Pollema, a citizen, a stack of unknown documents, as the county auditor was wrapping up the ballot count for the night.
Not dozens… Over a hundred ballots were rejected. And it’s even more interesting if you look at how many votes they actually counted in precinct 4-16:
In a race where they could choose up to 2 candidates, if we ignore the under-vote, and total the votes up, and divide by 2, we come up with roughly 23 voters who had their votes counted. If they threw out 132 ballots, Leah Anderson acting at SD Canvassing’s bidding might have thrown out up to 85% of the ballots cast in that precinct.
How does the county auditor, working with an election conspiracy group make the decision to just toss out more than 3/4 of the ballots cast in one precinct?
They had one, maybe two races to vote on, and a massive number of them were just thrown away? Here’s what people need to focus on, especially the Secretary of State, the Minnehaha County Commission, and possibly the Attorney General.
Because if I was one of those voters, I would be asking why my vote wasn’t counted.
*Update*
If those rejected ballots were Democrat ballots, the percentage of challenged ballots would be even higher.
MAGA Cult
No. Just cult. I’m no way is this group a representation of all Trump supporters.
Perception is reality and let me tell you, the perception is that MAGA is a cult and every Trump supporter is in it.
Part of being a Trump supporter means, at the very minimum, ignoring his constant lies about elections being stolen. You are contributing to this by supporting him, like it or not.
Not worried for a minute about South Dakota elections because we have voter ID. It’s a different story elsewhere, where many states don’t require ID. That, along with mail-in voting and six-week election windows, is an invitation to cheat.
And yet, when pressed for evidence, you have jack. Shocking.
Cry some more about your conspiracy theories.
Well, Cliff, it’s time to start wringing your hands with worry… you do not need an ID to vote in SD.
From the Sec of State Website:
“If you do not have a photo ID, you can sign a personal identification affidavit, and will still be allowed to vote a regular ballot. (SDAR 5:02:05:25)”
https://sdsos.gov/elections-voting/voting/default.aspx
It’s been a law for over 20 years.
To use the affidavit you have to already be registered which required ID. Probably in place to make sure we are letting Americans vote. Something Anderson doesn’t seem to care about.
The irony that the leader of an “election integrity” group is now at the backbone of interfering with an election is absolutely hilarious. Anyone who gives the canvass crew a shred of credibility has lost their mind.
not interference…… just being a watchdog to promote voter integrity
“Stop the Steal” right?
It is a shame that you believe the vomit coming out of Pollema’s mouth. You can have a different residential and mailing address. Both options are even given on a voter registration form. And under SD law, an address is not even required. One has to certify that (1)they are a citizen of the United States, (2) will be 18 on or before the next election, (3) has maintained residence in SD for 30 days, (4) is not mentally incompetent, (5) is not a felon, and (6) authorizes any previous registration. (SDCL 12-4-1.2). Residence is defined as “the place in which a person is domiciled as shown by an actual fixed permanent dwelling, establishment, OR any other abode to which the person RETURNS after a period of absence.” (SDCL 12-1-4). Just because someone is “connected to mail forwarding companies,” as was Pollema’s argument, in no way means they are ineligible to vote.
What is most frustrating about this, is that Pollema didn’t have a right to challenge those ballots in the first place. An absentee ballot can be challenged for 4 reasons: (1) the persons identity, (2) they are a convicted felon, (3) are mentally incompetent; (4) the voter has died. (SDCL 12-18-10; 12-19-9.2). There is NO right to make a challenge based on the address of the voter.
If there is an issue with an address, it is the duty of the county auditor to ensure that the registration information, including address verification, is correct. (SDCL 12-4-2; 12-4-5.3; 12-4-19). These are things that should have been done months ago and not the night off the election.
What Pollema did is the exact opposite of what she claims she stands for. “A registered voter who is not otherwise disqualified by law from voting in the election may vote by absentee ballot.” (SDCL 12-19-1). The grounds that Pollema made the challenge on are not even allowed. Nor does being associated with a mail forwarding company disqualify someone from casting an absentee ballot. She reads statutes that best fit her agenda and most of the time she is completely wrong. She spews that garbage to her loyal followers who drink it as quickly as possible without any questioning. 132 voters were disenfranchised because of her.
If the 132 votes were rejected because the voters
we’re not residents, they must be rejected…. why do you think people are concerned about voter integrity?
What law allows a South Dakota absentee ballot to be challenged on residency?
The reasons to challenge are identity, felony conviction or being declared mentally incompetent. None of those have anything to do with residency.
Also wouldn’t the appropriate time to challenge an absentee is when the auditors office receives the request. Then the voter would have an opportunity to vote in person or challenge the challenge. Convenient how this happened late on Election Day
So, let’s get this straight. These clowns removed votes because they are challenging residency and there was no actual evidence to support it? Is there anyway to tell which ones were removed. My parents live in SD for about half of the year and use a mail forwarding address. I bet they will be a bit upset if they can’t vote in their state of residency or their votes were thrown out. Where is the judge putting an end to this travesty and how can we get some criminal punishments for these people?
Exactly, it’s not against the law to use mail forwarding services. For many AMERICANS mail forwarding is how they can live a flexible life. Leah stole AMERICANS right to vote. I hope that doesn’t sit right with voters, candidates or judges.
NK Braithwraight from SD Canvassing post this yesterday on their FB Group.
“The BOE are a bunch of unqualified, unelected bureaucrats that have repeatedly demonstrated a reckless disregard for South Dakota citizens and the security of our elections. IT’S TIME TO ABOLISH THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS.”
Hello Wackadoodle Dimwit Doeden Dumpsterfire Banana Republic!
Ok.. as a registered independent voter, this is comical to me… All is good when it worked for the home team, but now that the repub’s have a super majority – and are starting to eat their own – well hell, WE GOT A PROBLEM!!