Remember Carson Merkwan? Don’t blink, because now he’s gone as a candidate decertified from running.

@SoDakCampaigns

Remember the post I did yesterday on District 17 Legislative Candidate Carson Merkwan explaining he’s ready for people to be offended?

Don’t blink. Because this happened today:

As I’m being told, Merkwan was decertified because he didn’t collect enough signatures.  The bad part was that he allegedly collected the number of signatures that he did using a guide the Secretary of State had posted online.  Except that it had wrong numbers.

His petitions were originally accepted by the SOS on that basis, but when it went to court, it was thrown out because a guide erroneously made by the SOS  does not supersede state law.

So, Carson will have to have a spine strong enough to say what is truthful without the benefit of using the soapbox of running for office.

48 thoughts on “Remember Carson Merkwan? Don’t blink, because now he’s gone as a candidate decertified from running.”

      1. Hope you aren’t talking about me. I’ve never even had an opinion on the guy.

  5. so we have a Secretary of State, who made a mistake, and when it was discovered, was willing to let it slide in violation of state law.

    1. Pretty funny that Ms. Monae’s screw-up cost this screw-up fellow his ballot slot.
      Crazy doesn’t have to equal incompetent, but in the vast majority of cases it does.

    2. Unbelievable. This is what happens when you elect someone based on ideology rather than competence.

  6. Look, I may not be the world’s biggest Markwan supporter, but everyone in SD — candidates of all parties, businesses, voters, & citizens, should be able to trust the rules & numbers we receive from our SOS. That’s fundamental. Wasn’t there a scandal earlier this year, with Independent Candidates told the wrong number of signatures needed? For clarity, I’m not arguing the court’s ruling. The law is the law. But citizens deserve better.

    1. the old-fashioned Republicans agree the citizens deserve better. Too bad we were out-voted at the state convention.

    2. I could not agree more. Candidates of any party should be able to trust the information they receive from the SOS.

      Don’t forget Monae herself also certified a ballot measure petition that she shouldn’t have:

      https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=918389&post_id=137304712&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=1pb9vv&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMDI5ODI2MDMsInBvc3RfaWQiOjEzNzMwNDcxMiwiaWF0IjoxNjk1NzQ1ODQwLCJleHAiOjE2OTgzMzc4NDAsImlzcyI6InB1Yi05MTgzODkiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.KR7n_C76tmikQjwoLmOkpxWBJRdnhUslAbjDTlAPTpM

      Monae and her office are a dumpster fire. South Dakota deserves better.

  7. Good riddance, but pathetic that Monae continues to embarrass the state with her feckless incompetence.

  8. I am having fantasies of Monae being “encouraged ” to resign and Chris Nelson drafted back to the SOS office. Josh Haeder can fill in on PUC

    I can dream, can’t I?

  9. I agree…though I know nothing about Merkwan’s politics, he can only play by the rules posted on Ms. Johnson’s SOS website or printed in her publications. I thought she was bringing in many “computer whiz’s” to protect our elections. Fat Chance of that happening if she can’t correctly post election rules. God help the corporations in South Dakota who all rely on the SOS office.

    1. what happened was a travesty. Did it happen to anybody else?
      I can see where somebody made a typo on the website. But when it was discovered, it was Monae who must have made the decision to let it slide in violation of state law. The Governor needs to step in and ask Monae to step down.

      1. Yes. I heard there were other candidates that had issues, whom were primarying incumbents… including one that didn’t have a notary stamp. But as far as I know they were given a pass.

        Monae made a mistake. I made a mistake for not calculating the numbers myself. But what is really curious is why is a Pierre lobbyist and Mr. Bell working so hard to remove people off ballots.

        1. Private citizens are challenging elected officials decisions to put people on the ballot who didn’t obey the law. It’s call “election integrity”.

          Take note tin hats: the great thing about well-written laws is that they work both ways.

          1. Someone went through a lot of work to get me thrown off the ballot. And they worked with a lobbyist and Justin Bell to get it done.

            No tin hats necessary to understand that simple truth.

            1. Who is “They” a lobbyist and Justin Bell? Why do you think they worked to keep you off the ballot?

              1. I’m not appealing the case.
                I hope they do. But yes. They are right. I should have calculated the number myself. And I would have, except a bunch of people in the district only asked me to run one week before the signatures were due and I was rushed.

                I agree the law is the law. You will get no conspiracies from me, other than someone went through a lot of work to ensure that I was off the ballot.

            2. You being on the ballot would have been in violation of the law.

              You don’t get to piss and moan about election integrity for years, then whine about someone else holding you and the SOS office accountable. Doesn’t matter if it was SDGOP, SDDP, or any other partisan hack tugging on that loose string.

              You were asking to be in charge of writing laws, yet didn’t exercise due diligence in following them when applying to shoulder a major civic responsibility.

              The more you publicly complain on this front the more ammunition you’re giving to anyone running against you in the future.

              1. LOL, since when do laws matter? Laws are not for us, they are for the others. We will end this lunacy and take back our country from these evil Dems! #MAGA

            3. Isn’t Mr. Bell a lobbist? Why does this other, darker lobbist get to remain unknown, a tripping stone for the next unsuspecting fellow who traipses this path?

              This morning, at the Conservatives with Common Sense breakfasting, we will debate the state of the Secretary of State.

                1. that article doesn’t provide new information.
                  the salient facts are that the SOS made a mistake, and thinks it’s ok to ignore state law and certify an unqualified candidate.

                  Your complaining about who challenged that decision is irrelevant. Your complaint that this isn’t fair to you is irrelevant.

                  But if the SOS wants to bring more attention to this fiasco, and appeal the decision, arguing that she should be allowed to certify candidates in violation of state law, it can only get worse for her

            4. You didn’t meet the legal requirements because the SOS mislead you. Crazy you focus on a guy upholding the law, and not the position literally responsible for it who does not.

              1. It’s not crazy.
                Someone was highly motivated to take me off the ballot.
                That was a lot of work. It’s relevant to wonder why.

                1. Carson why would someone go to all the trouble to remove you from the ballot as you suspect? How are they threatened?

    2. And one star signature collection. Good candidates use that petition as their fundraising list.

      1. I agree.

        My excuse is I was convinced to run by local constituents only 10 days prior to signatures being due.
        I could have easily had more, but I made the mistake of assuming the number from SOS was right.

  11. How do you OVERSTATE the Independent Candidates’ signature requirements TEN FOLD and simultaneously UNDERSTATE the Republican candidates’ signature requirements?

    As far as I’m concerned, the buck stops with Monae. It’s her job to run that office. It’s become painfully obvious she’s incapable of doing that job. We deserve better.

    1. We deserve Chris Nelson, even if it means dragging him kicking and screaming back into that office. Maybe shanghai Jason Williams as well.

      1. Mr. Nelson is too good where he is, and Mr. Williams is too good at jobs that really don’t have anything to do.

    2. Well you crazy people put Ms. Monae in office. Indeed. You cannot deny this. Now we all live with it.

  12. Here’s a crazy idea, let’s start electing our GOP candidates for the SOS office at the primary election rather than letting a very few that attend a convention do it!

    1. It amazed me this year the house Republican caucus, and I’m not including the freedom caucus folks, didn’t appreciate what a shipwreck this could be. The system is broke. Sorry folks. We were a whisker from Lt Gov Haaguard and AG Natvig. 2026 will be a mess, a mess that we all see coming, and those that could do something are unwilling to address it. Don’t give me either the get involved to fix it argument. The inmates own the asylum at the county level and that isn’t changing in the near term so the adults should be changing it for them.

      1. the question is, which would be worse, a jungle primary or a convention? That’s why the legislature won’t change it. They are afraid if they take it away from party conventions, and the voters demand a jungle primary, the situation might get worse.
        That’s why a different solution is to make the precinct committee men and women take office July 1, serve almost two years DOING THE JOB, and then let them vote at a state convention.

  14. Hey, Mr. Merkwan, do you know what most people in Yankton think?

    They think “BuwahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”
    Stop being a dumbass.

  15. I think we are all being too hard on Mr Merkwan here.
    What happened to him was terrible. He is entitled to complain, but not about Mr Bell.

    This is the kind of thing that fuels conspiracy theories: the information provided to prospective candidates was incorrect. After the candidates submitted their petitions, whether or not they were certified was arbitrarily decided by the SOS. This is in accordance with Stalin’s opinion that “it’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes.”

    The SOS was willing to circumvent state law to certify somebody who didn’t quality, and possibly has not certified somebody who did qualify, or discouraged other possible candidates from filing because they didn’t think they could get enough signatures.

    This is the kind of mess that causes people to lose faith in the integrity of elections, and consequently lose faith in the legitimacy of their government.

    It’s absolutely awful and if the legislature doesn’t see fit to call a special session ASAP to start impeachment, or the Governor doesn’t demand a resignation, we all have a lot to complain about.

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