Freedom Caucus Group lists couple dozen legislators signing demand for election records, possibly tipping their hand as to membership.

@SoDakCampaigns

After one of the identified leaders of the group refused to answer who their members were, The mystery of who the undisclosed members of the Freedom Caucus group are might have been uncovered with the release of a letter sent to Governor Noem demanding the retention of election records from the 2020 General election.

The release sent today notes in part:

Nearly a third of the current South Dakota legislature signed onto the letter, which argues that the ES&S contract’s provisions which would render election results to become proprietary information should be considered unenforceable. The letter stated that, “such agreement should not be the basis to obstruct or abolish the inherent right of citizens to oversee their elections.”

“Whether there are election issues or not, we stand united that the elections belong to the citizens and it is their right to oversee them to insure they are open, honest, and transparent,” said Freedom Caucus Chairman Representative Aaron Aylward, who was the first to sign the letter.

Nearly a third? Well, no. 24/105 legislators would nearly be 1/4 of the current State Legislature, not a third.  And “ensure” means to make certain, and  “insure” is what you pay your insurance company to do.

So, who is the group backing the Freedom Caucus’ attempt to preserve records to litigate the 2020 election? According to the letter attached to the release…

With the letter signed by..

Representative Aaron Aylward
Representative Drew Dennert (gone for ’23)
Representative Fred Deutsch
Representative Randy Gross
Representative Jon Hansen
Representative Taffy Howard (thankfully all 86% of her is gone for ’23)
Representative Kevin Jensen
Representative Phil Jensen
Representative Chris Karr
Representative Sam Marty (gone for ’23)
Representative Liz May
Representative John Mills
Representative Tina Mulally
Representative Scott Odenbach
Representative Ernie Otten
Representative Marty Overweg
Representative Carl Perry
Representative Sue Peterson
Representative Tom Pischke
Representative Tony Randolph
Representative Bethany Soye
Representative Kaleb Weis (gone for ’23)
Senator Julie Frye-Mueller (still stuck with her in ’23)
Senator Marsha Symens (gone for ’23)

..that tells us that South Dakota Pillow Guy groupies Tina, Taffy and Julie might have found some friends to sign on to their wacky crusade, but over 3/4 of the legislature have no interest in re-litigating the 2020 election in South Dakota. Especially considering no one can identify any elections in the State that had their outcomes altered by the alleged fraud they claim to be searching for.

If you take out the number of people who are not coming back next year, that knocks down the number of rebel caucusers participating with the Freedom Caucus down even further.

Stay tuned.

29 thoughts on “Freedom Caucus Group lists couple dozen legislators signing demand for election records, possibly tipping their hand as to membership.”

  1. Rep. Gross sticks out to me, he’s not exactly one of the usual suspects. It’s also interesting that Sen. Novstrup didn’t sign on, this is his crowd.

  2. Interesting that you find this news worthy and a ‘tipping of the hand’ re: membership in the Freedom Caucus. I say it it’s a ‘tipping of the hand’ of who DOES NOT support the voters of SD. This is not a partisan issue – ALL SD voters should want voter integrity.

  3. So Pat Powers is a SD Republican Party groupie. Oh that was a mistake. Pat can’t be a groupie because he gets paid a handsome salary to post content that is in direct opposition to the Republican Platform. Hmmmmmm, I wonder where Pat’s paycheck comes from.

    1. I get paid a salary? They must have lost that in the mail.

      And please. Keep your silliness to yourself. I was one of the people actually voting on the platform, while I don’t see that you did …anything.

  4. It seems reasonable to have these materials available to people who want to look them over, although it might necessitate the hiring of additional staff to manage it. Monae Johnson is already talking about doing audits of election results, so that might satisfy the doubters.
    In the meantime, perhaps all the precinct committee men and women she recruited to vote for her at the convention will decide to actually do their job and assist at the voting centers.

  5. Gee Pat. This is The House Freedom Caucus so 22 out 70 so that is 31% of the House that agree with this plus the 2 Senators. What are you so afraid of? The citizens want to know that we have free and fair elections. This is like having a black box given to you that is locked but you do not have a key to open it. You do not know the contents until you open it. The CVR’s open the box. If there is nothing to hide the CITIZENS of SD have a right to THEIR records.

      1. Pat made a good and valid point if in fact they misspoke and said 1/3 of the legislators. However when you review the list, you find it is actually 1/3 of the House Chambet which is in fact the People’s Chamber.

        Regardless of whether you beloved Amy such fraud or abuse or election scheme occurred or not, this entire topic is not just about S.D, ITS also about holding the Federal Govt accountable to the constitution. And the legislature has tge full authority to audit and review all public matters concerning voting rights

  6. I agree with the Freedom Caucus in this matter. We MUST have elections we can trust. In the last election, I watched a video of a ballot box in Sioux Falls which was unattended and located out at the far end of a parking lot with no cameras or people monitoring it. I also watched the Mules movie and I know how voter fraud could easily happen in those unattended ballot boxes here in SD. We MUST make sure only eligible people are voting and they should vote in person by showing an ID when casting a ballot. The only mail-in voting should be for absentee ballots for those who apply for a permit to do so. And should only be permitted on a limited case-by-case basis. There should not be mass voting by using ballot boxes in parking lots. We give people extra time to vote. There really is no excuse for not being able to vote legally in SD.

  7. I know lots of Democrats that want to make sure our elections are secure as well. Additionally we pay for our elections, we own that information. People who have nothing to hide….hide nothing. I see the Freedom Caucus as a good things. Shows who is fighting for South Dakota people vs stand with for our Democrat/Republicans in disguise problem we have!

  8. Can someone explain what this letter is referencing? Don’t we already save our election results? What is “proprietary” that they are talking about?

  9. Which one of these legislators will admit that their own election was illegitimate? If this is so widespread, at least one of them has to be the beneficiary of fraud. Wouldn’t you think?

    24 passenger clown car.

    1. No, it is everyone who lost that is the victim. Those that won, are 100% accurate. Just like all the republican women who get abortions, their situation is different, it is everyone else that just likes to kill babies, their termination is different. How do you not know this….

    2. None if them have said whether there is fraud or not, they are simply standing up for the constitution which guarantees to the peoppe free, fair, ans honest elections, and where the peoope have doubts, they are entitles to file redresses and request an audit and review of the Electoral Process if how we manage the process itself. It’s more about standing up to a corrupted federal govt who chooses not to have such debate. The legislature is our safety net to a corrupt congress.

      1. Mike Lee Zitterich writes: “None of them have said whether there is fraud or not”

        Oh. You STILL don’t have any proof? But you can sow doubt in the electoral system… cuz… you feel like it? Damage our democracy for what? Your fantastic imagination?

  10. So Trump didn’t win? Or he did but all the other votes are suspect? What are these clowns trying to prove? Vote them all out. I know I will be helping with their exit.

  11. At least we have a full list of the entire crazy crew in one convenient document.
    They must have gotten bored of writing their own scorecards.

    1. Yes, this convenient document of legislators is worthy of posting everywhere! Many refer to this list as the Obstruction Party. The reason Al Novstrup isn’t on here is because he is a smart, reasonable, conservative legislator who puts SD first.

      1. Or is he afraid to let his real opinion be know by the people of his district. I understand Dennert and Weis but Perry is a real disappointment.

  12. Finally the official list of the Freedom Caucus. I’m so glad they finally revealed their membership. Some of them want to run for leadership in the house. Good luck. It will never happen.

    1. This is not the “official list of the freedom caucus.” It’s my understanding that this letter was sent to the entire legislature and that anyone could sign on. No mention of the “Freedom Caucus” was made in the request for signatures.

  16. None if them have said whether there is fraud or not, they are simply standing up for the constitution which guarantees to the peoppe free, fair, ans honest elections, and where the peoope have doubts, they are entitles to file redresses and request an audit and review of the Electoral Process if how we manage the process itself. It’s more about standing up to a corrupted federal govt who chooses not to have such debate. The legislature is our safety net to a corrupt congress.

  17. I am disappointed in the Cancel Culture displayed above on a Republican blog. I reject demonizing legislators that you disagree with on an issue. Let’s debate the issue and avoid the personal attacks. Lets live up to

    “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.”
    — Ronald Reagan

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