South Dakota

Articles about voting issues in South Dakota.

South Dakota: Bill eliminates absentee voting on Election Day | Rapid City Journal

Feb 28 2013

» The Voting News

A bill that would eliminate absentee voting on Election Day is sailing through the Legislature. Currently, walk-up absentee voting is allowed in-person at the courthouse through 3 p.m. on Election Day. The proposal that the House of Representatives is expected to approve today would cut off that type of absentee voting at 5 p.m. on the day before the election. It was approved on a 12-0 vote Tuesday by the House Local Government committee. The Senate previously approved the legislation on a 32-1 vote.

South Dakota: Senate passes absentee voting bill | The Argus Leader

Feb 22 2013

» The Voting News

The Senate wants to put a stop to Election Day requests for absentee ballots. South Dakota law requires counties to provide absentee ballots in person until 3 p.m. on Election Day. Senate Bill 130 would push the deadline back to 5 p.m. the day before an election; voters still could turn in absentee ballots the day of an election. The Senate on Wednesday voted 32-1 in favor of the proposal, sending it to the House.

South Dakota: Counties using new voter registration system | Madison Daily Leader

Feb 6 2013

» The Voting News

Counties across South Dakota are using a new system to access and update voter records. Total Vote allows county auditors instant access to changes that need to be made, from new voter registrations and pending applications to record deletions due to a death and notices of missing information with existing records. Lake County Auditor Bobbi Janke said she is just starting to use the new system, and it continues to improve every week. South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant said the system was created using input from auditors across the state. The goal was to create one computer system that could be used by all counties and the state. The new program is designed to communicate directly with other state departments that provide alerts related to voter records — like alerts from the state Department of Health regarding a death, which requires the removal of that voter from the active voter registration list. “It’s incorporated all of the election systems into one new system,” Gant said.

South Dakota: House gets chance to talk about election changes | Aberdeen News

Jan 21 2013

» The Voting News

A wide assortment of changes in South Dakota’s election laws received a unanimous recommendation Thursday by a legislative panel and, in normal circumstances, would have been placed on the consent calendar for routine approval today by the House of Representatives. But one piece of the package deals directly with the same topic as a lawsuit that targeted Secretary of State Jason Gant last year over the eligibility of House Speaker Brian Gosch to be a candidate for re-election. So Rep. Tim Rounds, R-Pierre, said House members should have the opportunity to talk about the measure, HB 1018. Rounds is chairman of the House Local Government Committee.

South Dakota: State senator drops plans to impeach secretary of state | The Argus Leader

Jan 18 2013

» The Voting News

A state senator has abandoned his previously announced plans to impeach South Dakota’s secretary of state. Sen. Stan Adelstein, R-Rapid City, has clashed publicly with Secretary of State Jason Gant for much of the past year, even requesting a criminal investigation of Gant, a Sioux Falls Republican. When that investigation by Attorney General Marty Jackley cleared Gant of any criminal wrongdoing, Adelstein said he was considering impeaching Gant instead. But now Adelstein says he’s given up on that plan. “I’m not going to fool with it any more,” Adelstein said. “If no one else cares, then why should I?”

South Dakota: Decision puts responsibility for ballot statements on secretary of state | Aberdeen News

Oct 18 2012

» The Voting News

In one respect Circuit Judge Mark Barnett brought clarity to a vaguely written piece of South Dakota election law last week. He decided the secretary of state must compile “pro” and “con” statements about measures on the statewide election ballot. The judge said the Legislature specifically directed that the secretary of state shall perform that duty and therefore it must be don. That answered the question of whether a “con” statement submitted by state Sen. Stan Adelstein should be added to the voter pamphlet that Secretary of State Jason Gant had already prepared and published for this fall’s general election.

South Dakota: Judge rules South Dakota Secretary of State Gant must reprint pamphlets | Rapid City Journal

Oct 16 2012

» The Voting News

A judge on Friday ordered Secretary of State Jason Gant to reprint the state’s election pamphlet and include Sen. Stan Adelstein’s opposition statement to a constitutional amendment backed by the governor. Adelstein, a Republican from Rapid City, filed suit against Gant last week in circuit court in Hughes County, saying Gant broke the law by not including Adelstein’s opposition statement regarding a balanced-budget amendment proposed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard. Adelstein opposed the measure in the Legislature. The court ruling Friday means Gant must reprint the pamphlets with Adelstein’s opposition statement, distribute it to county auditors throughout the state and publish the new version online. Adelstein said the ruling gives voters balanced information about the amendment. ”The voters otherwise would be voting for an entirely different thing than they are told,” Adelstein said. “It would be awful for the state to be stuck with this impediment to the constitution.”

South Dakota: Judge rules South Dakota Secretary of State Gant must reprint pamphlets | Rapid City Journal

Oct 15 2012

» The Voting News

South Dakota: Secretary of State Says ES&S M650 Scanner ‘100 percent accurate’ | The Daily Republic

Sep 18 2012

» The Voting News

A task force report issued Friday by South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant says Davison County’s ballot scanner is “100 percent accurate.” That means human error by the Davison County Auditor’s Office, which is led by Auditor Susan Kiepke, herself an elected official, was the culprit in a June 5 miscount that left the county’s primary election results in doubt for several days. “My statement to South Dakota voters,” Gant said in an interview following the issuance of the report, “is that the machines we use to count our ballots are 100 percent accurate.”

South Dakota: Attorney General: Secretary of State Gant's actions legal | The Argus Leader

Jul 19 2012

» The Voting News

An investigation has cleared Secretary of State Jason Gant and a former employee of criminal wrongdoing. Attorney General Marty Jackley said Tuesday that the Division of Criminal Investigation found no evidence that Gant or former operations manager Pat Powers broke state law. He said the DCI interviewed witnesses, obtained additional documentation from Gant’s 2010 run for office and searched more than 60,000 emails and 150,000 Internet usage entries from the Secretary of State’s office. “These were serious allegations that were taken seriously,” Jackley said.