Jerstad a few votes down, but still on top.
Read it all here. That ballot screwup could mean that this election is not yet over if Earley decides to pursue it further. And why not? With 13 votes separating them, and 27 spoiled ballots where the intent of the voter can't be ascertained there's enough doubt that I'd at least be asking my attorney and the party what my options are.From the challenges by Earley's attorney at the Canton recount, it appears they are going under a theory of disenfranchised voters. In Lincoln County, at least seven District 12 voters got absentee ballots with the wrong legislative district. After the ballots were flagged when going through the scanner machine, the election reconciliation board filled out appropriate ballots for that district, leaving the candidates for legislature in the correct district unvoted. (They would have no way of ascertaining the voter's intent for the right ballot.)
I haven't heard yet what went on in Minnehaha County. It's been reported that the county auditor there delivered the wrong ballots to one of the precincts and that voters could either wait for the correct ballots or vote on the "wrong" ball, leaving the legislative races blank. I believe that was 27 ballots.
While 27 ballots and the wrong absentee ballots could be enough to have changed the election, I don't know what the remedy would be. A special election would also disenfranchise previous voters who can't vote in another election for whatever reason. Turnout would likely be much smaller. I doubt that a court would order a new election.
Is this over? I don't think so.
Comments
Todd Epp
How about it Todd?
The 27 people who voted district 11 ballots instead of District 12 ballots in Sioux Falls did so with full knowledge. They were offered the opportunity to stay for 15 minutes and get the correct ballot, or even come back anytime later in the day (a full 12 hours to come back). Instead they chose to vote right then and there on the ballot without District 12 legislative candidates on it. You can't say they were disenfranchised. Once again, they chose to vote the wrong ballots.
Earley cannot assert rights for people that the people themselves have waived. He has no legal standing to do that.
Even if Earley had standing to argue those 27 folks were disenfranchised, he would have had to receive 24 out of the 27 votes to overcome Jerstad's lead. You can't ask people how they would have voted, and you can't speculate yourself into an unlikely victory.
Earley needs to exhibit some class, and accept the results of the election, and the recount he requested. Time to concede to Jerstad and wish her well.
A new election is not a fair result. That would disenfranchise all the voters who already cast their ballots - it is more of a burden for them to come vote AGAIN than it would have been for the 27 people to wait 15 mins.
Ultimately, it is for the Senate to determine the qualifications of its members. The Senate could consider what happened and potentially seat Earley as the winner - but I hope it does take this inflammatory step.
By the way - is this not the same district that produced like 11 Wick/McIntyre ties? It seems like one party or the other would try to "take control" of the district by registering 12 new voters...
so now, Earley wants to steal the election by pulling a power play and having the GOP senate seat him despite the count and the recount. Sounds like something a banana republic dictator would do.
The Legislature has been faced with this problem before, and dealt with it with class. I don't remember the year, but it involved Democrat Kazmerask (sp?) in Dist 6. The House looked at the evidence, and objectively decided to seat the Democrat over the GOP candidate.
Earley got screwed, but I put my money on: He is out.
As a recount board member, the only decision I could make (as one of three people on the board and the only Democrat) was to count or not count the ballots in front of me based on the law. That and to try to count to over ten without taking off my shoes.
Earley's legal counsel set aside the ballots that were under voted because absentee voters received the wrong ballot. It is up to Earley and his attorneys to decide if there should be further determinations made about those ballots. A Judge or the legislature will do that, not me.
Did the Lincoln Co. and Minnehaha Co. auditors make mistakes by not providing the correct ballots? Yes. But what is the remedy? I don't think you can prove how the under votes would have voted.
I can't tell Earley what to do. But I think the mistakes were made in good faith and without fraud or bad intent. Perahps those votes would have been for Earley, perhaps for Jerstad. We'll never know and there is no way to know.
Democracy operates on the premise that the candidate and his/her supporters will accept a one vote defeat. In my opinion, Earley has lost by 13 votes with no evidence of fraud.
If you have evidence of fraud, come forward. Otherwise, I think this matter is effectively over. "Mulligans" or "Do Overs' are very, very rare in American elections. If he wants to continue this odessy, that's his perogative. But I think it will not be successful.
As a former Gore volunteer who worked at the Nashville HQ during the days before the 2000 Election, we were warned on the night before the election of possible election fraud in Florida. What happened in Florida was either fraud or at the least, suspicious.
That is not the situation here. But me telling you that probably won't be convincing to you. There were NO disagreements in Lincoln County concerning Earley's gained votes. I agreed to all three of the votes he gained because, under the law, the intention of the voter was clear to me (and the other members of the recount board).
As a lawyer, I can tell you first hand that sometimes the law doesn't provide us with the result or remedy we like.
And that's what I have to say about that.
Todd Epp
http://thunewatch.squarespace.com
Oh come on Todd!
Let's NOT forget
1. That the Minnehaha auditor is a DEM--who made the SAME MISTAKE last election and sent the wrong ballots to district 12.
--who often fails to be even polite to REPS working in her office.
2. That everyone KNEW that this would be a close election.
3. That if Jerstad were down by 13 the DEMS would not be polite or have any manners about how they express their concerns.
No, there probably isn't any good remedy --- the unethical steal yet ANOTHER election.
Grow up. Or move to another country. This is America, and we protect liberties here!!!!
I was down in Florida in 2000, not Nashville, and there the butterfly ballots were not fraudulent, they simply were just "too complicated" for the inept among the electorate to figure out.
So comparing Broward County with Minnhehaha is lame at best. Here the voters were deprived of the ability to vote when they showed up. Voters should not have to wait on their government at the polling place to do the right thing. Government should be serving the people.
I would demand an investigation into the disenfranchisement of voters in District 12 for the second election cycle in a row by the Minnahaha County Auditor.
Of those 27 voters some were mothers who had to get to work or face consequences, some were blue collar workers who had job demands, some were auto mechanics who had to get on the job before 8 am others were elderly who could not wait for long periods of time.
All of the above complaints were listed by the DNC as being reasons for disenfranchisement in several states around the country where wrong ballots were delivered just like here.
I want the SDDP to call for a full blown investigation into the situation. Won't happen though...
Two elections in a row is no longer a coincidence, its fraud.
There was no fraud.
The 27 people who chose to undervote because of the wrong ballot rather than waiting 15 minutes are no different than the other 873 who chose to undervote for one reason or another.
You can't say that anybody was disenfranchised. You can't say that there was any fraud. You can't say that the county auditor made a conscious decision to send the wrong ballots - a mistake was made and the correct ballots were there by 7:15. People voted the issues and races they wanted to vote - and left the rest blank. Earley came up a few votes short. The election is over. Time to congratulate the winner, and kick the ass of the whiner.
If Earley does this, should Latterell do the same thing? How about Brian Johnson? Ellie Schwiesow? Maybe we'll have an all Republican Senate next year. Why stop with the Senate? Let's do the same thing in the House!
There sure would be a whole load of Democrats with sore ***** if we kicked the butt of every whiner. For everyone ONE Republican that expresses legitimate concern, there are at least TEN Dems cryin' for no apparent reason.
Boo hoo-- Earley had a Dump Dascle sticker on his car. He is SO partisen.
There are no democrats whining about earley losing. Just you whiny republicans complaining that people chose to vote the wrong ballot instead of staying around 15 minutes to vote for Jerstad and give her a larger margin of victory.
By the way, is that frown permanently plastered on Earley's face? The guy has never been seen smiling and never taken a picture smiling. That could be one reason people don't seem to have any affinity for him. He's always angry and dour - even in his official photos. He was the most morose person in SD politics, and his negative attitude and demeanor matched his visage. If Rounds didn't support him, it's because he was always trying to undermine Rounds for one thing or another. Now Earley can go sulk out of the public view on his own time. Good riddance!
He was on the short side of a 33-2 vote to honor Tom Daschle for his service to South Dakota.
He didn't get much help from Rounds but it probably wouldn't matter.
Rounds campaigned hard for Kelly and Dennis Arnold, both of whom lost.
In short, Rounds coattails were non existent.
Rounds is too smart and too chicken to take on Tim Johnson.