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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

South Dakota: Pressure builds, but Secretary of State Gant won’t go | The Argus Leader

A state senator is calling for the resignation or impeachment of Secretary of State Jason Gant, who has faced a steady drumbeat of criticism for being too politically involved. Sen. Stan Adelstein, R-Rapid City, has filed an official complaint about Gant with Attorney General Marty Jackley, who is reviewing the issue and expects to produce a report within the next few weeks. Adelstein hopes this investigation will produce pressure on Gant to resign, or possibly provide grounds to impeach him when the Legislature reconvenes in January. “Gant has to leave,” Adelstein said. “My problem now becomes this: If it’s only going to be impeachment, it’ll be a terrible distraction to the legislative process. I’ve really got to see what I can do to make it more compelling for Gant to resign. I’m not sure how I’m going to do that.”

South Dakota: Winners remain after lengthy recount in Davison County, but numbers change | The Daily Republic

The winners are the same: Tracy, Gunkel, Vehle, Putnam, Kriese and one-way streets. The vote totals and margins, however, did change after the votes cast in Tuesday’s local elections were counted twice more Thursday at the Davison County Courthouse in Mitchell. The new counts had been deemed necessary Wednesday after Auditor Susan Kiepke acknowledged errors in Tuesday’s results. Thursday, Kiepke blamed the errors on the county’s vote-counting machine or the software used with it. Vote totals seem to have been changed at “random,” she said. “It appears to be a software problem,” she said. A technician from Election Systems & Software, of Omaha, Neb., spent the day in the office trying to figure out what went wrong and assisting with the recount. He said he is not permitted to disclose his name and declined to answer most questions, but he defended the machine. “Nothing. I didn’t find nothing wrong with the machine,” he said.

South Dakota: Election chief says it’s too late to put congressional candidate on June primary ballot | AP/The Republic

South Dakota’s top elections official said Wednesday that he sees no way for a Rapid City woman to be added to the Republican primary ballot against U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, even though a hearing is set for next month to hear the woman’s case. Secretary of State Jason Gant said he cannot put Stephanie Strong on the statewide June 5 primary ballot because South Dakota law requires that ballots had to have been given to county auditors by Wednesday so absentee voting can start Friday, also set by law. A federal law requires that absentee ballots be provided to military personnel and other overseas voters beginning Saturday, he said. Another primary race cannot be added to the ballot after people have already started voting absentee, Gant said. Once people have cast absentee ballots that do not include any GOP congressional primary race, those ballots cannot be pulled back, he said. Noem is expected to run uncontested, so the GOP congressional race won’t be included on the ballot. “I absolutely do not see any possibility on how we could add someone to the ballot after today,” Gant said Wednesday.

South Dakota: Elections board spars with South Dakota Secretary of State Gant | The Argus Leader

Secretary of State Jason Gant attempted Tuesday to bypass the state board of elections — which has rule-making authority under state law — in approving new forms and introducing legislation. At the regular meeting in Sioux Falls, board members questioned Gant’s attempt to change forms such as those used for voter registration without the board’s final approval on the actual form.

One board member also questioned Gant bringing forth legislation this session without the board’s approval. The board, in place since the 1970s, is composed of auditors and former legislators from both parties. Its purpose is to help make bipartisan decisions and ensure public participation on election rules and policy.

South Dakota: ACLU, secretary of state to meet on felon voting rights | The Daily Republic

The American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota and South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant plan to meet soon to discuss the voting rights of convicted felons. ACLU-South Dakota issued a press release Monday alleging Gant’s office was wrongly informing some residents with felony convictions that they are prohibited from voting.

Gant said the ACLU’s allegations are “unfounded” but invited ACLU officials in for a meeting. Gant said the ACLU’s claim is based on a misunderstanding of his website. “The information they are referencing is on my website, and has been since May of 2010,” Gant said in a press release he issued Monday to counter the ACLU’s release.