A little good news.. things seem to be going better at the SOS election department.

I was remarking to a member of Legislative Leadership yesterday that it’s kind of a downer reporting on just a depressing string of awfulness lately with badly behaving legislators doing things with syrup bottles, gatecrashers, and candidates whose family members have to file lawsuits to stop them from misappropriating the family inheritance.  So maybe it’s a worthwhile exercise to point out what’s going well.

As we move into election season, one thing I am noticing is that things seem to have settled down in the Secretary of State’s election office. The process of candidate certification seems to be going smoothly, the election office is generally responsive to information requests, and we don’t seem to see any major screw ups. In other words, all things seem like they should be.

Maybe it’s the result of the office working to get back to basics, and shaking off the election trutherism that dogged Monae Johnson’s early tenure. There was early evidence of this before session as the SOS urged South Dakotans to trust election officials, and that’s a good thing.

Hopefully they can continue to follow in supporting county election officials and help South Dakotas understand that the wave of attacks on election machines through county level initiated petition efforts appear to be an attempt to illegally disenfranchise the disabled in from voting in violation of federal law.

Regardless, let’s give credit where credit is due when we can positively highlight the efforts of Secretary of State Monae Johnson and her staff. It’s a good thing.