In comparison to Sioux Falls where I got everything I wanted in terms of candidates, for the second city/school election in a row, Brookings was a slaughterhouse for Republican candidates.
Ronda May, a long-time School employee was turned away from the School Board. Incumbent city Councilwoman Leah Brink was denied a second term, and former SDSU Student Body President Andrew Rasmussen lost in a heartbreaking squeaker by nine votes (he will be potentially be seeking a recount).
What seems to be the cause of these Republican losses? Check out the absentee voting numbers for the second year in a row:
Absentee balloting accounts for 1/3 of the municipal vote here in my community, providing 1088 of the 3159 votes cast in the election – over 34% of votes cast are through early voting. And it’s here in absentee balloting where some of the Democrat candidates seem to be posting massive, massive advantages before anyone steps in a voting booth on election day.
In Andrew’s case, in a small race like this, when you start off the evening nearly 170 votes down before election day, that’s an incredible deficit to try to come back from. And he ran one of the best campaigns for city office in town.
Last election, numbers were maybe even worse.
Coming two years in a row, I’d be curious to see the makeup of exactly who is voting absentee, and whether it’s indicative of an organized absentee voter drive. Because it’s not trending in the right direction for Republicans at the local level when we’ve enjoyed at least parity here, and that should be a cause for concern and attention.
Typical republican. We lost so something nefarious is going on.
That’s just a dumb statement.
I wondered if there was an “organized absentee voter drive.” Doesn’t mean anything nefarious. Just means that Republican candidates need to pay attention to that, and probably do one of their own.
The Republicans in Brookings are clueless. They just want to get together, bitch, and drink beer. Very disappointing.
No love lost for Powers, but he said nothing of the sort. John Dale will be along shortly, though.
Big loss in Sioux Falls but a good win for sd in brookings.
Sioux Falls rocked it last night. That’s why this is such a great place to live. Good luck to Brookings. Your business leaders will keep things straight. Also congrats to Dems on absentee ballot harvest.
The business leaders are the ones who are backing this fraud.
And there you have it. Just call foul on every single election you lose, even when you control state politics entirely. This mindset is bizarre.
Exactly! Why do all the voting fraud deniers attack like rabid dog whenever someone remotely tip toes or mentions looking or counting (correctly) only legal votes from SD citizens 1:1?? The people still pretending there was no voter fraud and no voter fraud going to happen here even though they pushed for drop boxes (we fought this and won effective immediately April 13th for minnehaha and Lincoln county. They need to be pulled and permanently banned because the use of them at all or their presence is already illegal in the state of SD election laws.
But, enough of the trolls and those still hanging on to the “no evidence of fraud” lies. Every,Single.Day. We learn about another case of serious fraud being confirmed via formal professional manners within legislatures in many states as well as local volunteer groups,
SD voter rolls are garbage, and the can is overflowing. Quite possibly one of the dirtiest I’ve seen so far. I do believe the voter trash living for free on the voter rolls in SD are a result of a very lazy and incompetent, law breaking, SOS who does not do the job he is paid to do.
As in, literally the counties I’ve assessed in SD are some of the worst voter rolls I’ve ever seen in regards to being clean, accurate and current voter rolls. I don’t think the SOS does anything with the voter rollls whatsoever because the county Auditor’s are in charge of processing new regs. The maintained s of every states rolls is so so so important.
Residency is for sale here in SD, no really.
And it comes with a free side of absentee ballot & voter registration with directions and a map of all the drop box locations in the state.
We need everyone calling your county Auditor’s and SOS, county commissioners and city council members and demand they permanently ban and remove all drop boxes in sd, banned for good.
Demand the voter rolls be maintained in a specific& Mandatory process with random canvassing audit efforts to Keep the sos accountable. Demand the rolls be cross checked against deaths, the usps, etc!!
No, keep going. Let Pat see the crazy he has fomented for years and is now struggling to put back into a box.
Crazy is posting as “Anonymous” and thinking that anyone will take you seriously.
It’s pretty clear what the issue is:
Vote Center Ballots
1 649 20%
2 954 30%
3 334 10%
4 174 5%
Absentee 1,088 34%
Total 3,199 100%
Leah Brink had the most votes in two of the vote centers, and Bonny Specker came in 3rd in 3 of the vote centers by a substantial margin. Specker made up the difference in “absentee” ballots.
I’m still parsing through the data, but something seems off in the vote totals for the 3-year seats.
Dems should savor the victories, they may be the only victories they have come November.
We sure can hope so!
Must be something in the water.
https://arizonasuntimes.com/2022/04/10/arizona-attorney-general-brnovich-announces-prosecutions-after-reviewing-maricopa-county-ballot-audit-as-kari-lake-calls-to-decertify-election/
It’s a combination of SDSU students voting and ballot harvesting from the two retirement communities that are run by Brookings Health (i.e., the city council).
Add in the fact that there are people who don’t live in Brookings voting absentee (admitted to me by a Democrat in an online chat last year) and viola! Dems can’t lose.
There is an interesting anomaly in the vote for the two 3-year seats. 586 more total votes than in 2021. But over 1,800 more votes in that race than in the other two. That just doesn’t add up.
I agree.
I consider myself a student of politics, and if someone comes along and is able to do something effectively, I want to pull it apart, try to find a way to counter it, or even better, use it myself.
Rick Hauffe who was with the SD Dems used oversized postcards against Republicans with pretty good effect back in the late 80’s/early 90’s, and taught the GOP a lesson. The lesson was not lost. I do consider Rick a friend, even though we were on opposite sides.
And I like to think I haven’t done so badly with postcards myself, considering I get busier every election.
Rick Hauffe is one of the best and his father; 1958 Green Bay Packer tackle, even more great to hang around with. Sadly not here anymore. A brute of a man!
Ouch 9 votes….
Ballot harvesting….come on
At some point we have to accept policies may not be liked by the majority instead of this “poor sport” the other side cheated line. Honestly, if you are running on bringing the national Qanon party lines to city council in Brookings, no way in hell I’m voting for you either. Try appealing to the audience rather than party.
The most telling sign of all is the defensive overdrives into refusing any and all assessments of a vote or election or ballot- it’s painfully obvious you are pro ballot harvesting via drop boxes with illegal registrations based on illegal r Liam’s of residency… try not to make it so obvious next time . Maybe only 5 immediate responses snapping back at all things logical or anyone simply doing their civic duty to question our elections- always – so we know for sure either way audits should be pre scheduled. If you’re not corrupt and voting illegally or getting votes illegally or paid to to do either of the above- then you would have no reason to immediately go to the most ridiculous name calling of all- QANON! Keep saying you’re an idiot without really saying it.
You’re embarrassing and should be ashamed of yourself. Election fraud evidence for hours, days, weeks- pick a state. But you will keep saying “no evidence” because you refuse to look and assume it’s all bs bc you want it to be – so that’s what you decided to run with now and forever refusing to ever consider reality bc you will never look or listen or believe irrefutable truth put in your lap and turned on for all to see.
When you get nervous about free speech discussing something you demand be censored and labeled( “false! Disinformation! Qanon! Russia!) please remind yourself it’s just you and only you up in that head of yours letting everyone know you’re not intelligent, informed or honest in any capacity.
P.S. there is NO such thing as “QANON”, but we know by now accuracy and the truth aren’t really your style and definitely not important for you so it’s irrelevant as it doesn’t pen into your narrative:
It’s right there in the voting records from the last election, where a not-insubstantial number of residents of the two retirement communities run by Brookings Health (which is owned by the city, by the way) voted absentee.
What’s Qanon?
And here it is:
Candidate Absentee Votes %
Specker 631 37.69%
Byrne 648 38.71%
Brink 395 23.60%
1,674 100.00%
Candidate In Person Votes %
Specker 799 29.76%
Byrne 900 33.52%
Brink 986 36.72%
2,685 100.00%
It’s clear that absentee ballots put Specker and Briana Doran onto the City Council.