Some county officials in South Dakota are still dealing with a flurry of election-related litigation that began last spring, despite several losses by plaintiffs claiming violations of election laws and after a judge labeled one lawsuit’s claims “not fully developed” and “illogical.”
At least a dozen county auditors have received petitions from local residents this year seeking to ban election technology such as electronic tabulators, and also seeking to require hand-counting in future elections. Three counties — Gregory, Haakon and Tripp — accepted petitions this summer and put them on the June primary ballot, where voters rejected all three measures.
The petitioners in South Dakota include people who believe former President Donald Trump’s false claims — thrown out by dozens of courts — that President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump was fraudulent (in South Dakota, Trump won with 62% of the vote in 2020). The South Dakota lawsuits are playing out amid a broader atmosphere of harassment against county officials, which recently took the form of activists accusing Minnehaha County commissioners of “treason” for upholding laws that allow people such as full-time traveling RVers to register and vote in South Dakota.
Lawrence County has been an epicenter for lawsuits in South Dakota, although most have been dismissed. The lawsuits began after the county commission rejected petitions seeking to ban various forms of election technology and require hand-counting. The commission cited reasons for the rejection including state and federal laws that require electronic voting systems for people with disabilities.
A legal challenge to the commission’s rejection of those petitions remains active, as does one of five legal actions claiming the results from the June primary are invalid because of allegedly improper uses of tabulating machines. Another open case in Charles Mix County challenges a similarly rejected petition on hand counting.
In those two counties alone, eight legal actions have been filed under the banner of “election integrity” since last spring.
What are the arguments?
Nichole Braithwait, who introduced and circulated the Lawrence County hand-counting petition, argues that county commissioners do not have the authority to reject a properly filed petition with enough signatures to support a public vote. The authority to determine a petition’s legality lies with the courts and not commissioners, her lawsuit says.
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Braithwait is associated with South Dakota Canvassing, the group that helped coordinate the statewide petition effort seeking to require hand-counting at the county level.
“I am convinced that we are on the right side of this issue and eventually the people will realize that our elections are run by corporations where the people have no oversight,” Braithwait said in an emailed statement, adding that “our elections are selections.”
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South Dakota’s elections are run by elected county auditors, and statewide results are reported by the Secretary of State’s Office. Government officials do contract with companies to provide electronic tabulating machines. Post-election audits after the June primary matched the machine tallies in most counties, with minimal discrepancies in some counties that did not change results.
Braithwait and some other South Dakotans who suffered rejected hand-counting petitions have been unable to find lawyers to represent them.
Braithwait’s lawsuits have cost her over $1,000 in printing costs alone, she said. She has taken time off work and away from her family to prepare and attend court.
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Lawyer for counties calls lawsuits ‘frivolous’
Rapid City lawyer Sara Frankenstein specializes in election law and represents many South Dakota counties in election-related lawsuits, including some of Lawrence County’s.
The petitioners’ struggle to retain a lawyer, Frankenstein said, reflects poorly on the claims in the lawsuits. Attorneys generally avoid cases with little to no chance of success, she said.
Frankenstein described the lawsuits as “frivolous” actions that cost counties money for elected officials “just doing what they swore an oath to do,” which is conduct elections according to local, state and federal laws.
18-point loser won’t drop claims
Lawrence County elected officials have also faced six legal actions from Kate Crowley-Johnson, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate as a Republican in the June primary. Four have been dismissed, one against the Lawrence County auditor and board of commissioners is pending, and an appeal was filed in another case in September.
Crowley-Johnson lost by 18 percentage points to incumbent Sen. Randy Deibert, R-Spearfish. She’s filed actions against Deibert, Lawrence County commissioners and the auditor challenging the use of automatic tabulating machines to count ballots.
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In one case, Crowley-Johnson sued Deibert, requested a hand recount and called for a new election, alleging the county’s election equipment had not been properly tested. The judge dismissed her claims, citing a lack of evidence of voting irregularities.
“Many of the claims are not fully developed,” Judge Jeffrey Connolly wrote. “Many are illogical.”
Crowley-Johnson denied an interview request for this story but alleged in text messages to South Dakota Searchlight that “the court system broke its own laws.” She also used profanity in the text messages and accused South Dakota Searchlight of writing “propaganda.”
Deibert said the cases have caused unnecessary public costs.
“It is taxpayer dollars paying for our court system. People should understand that,” Deibert said. “We’re talking property tax dollars. These frivolous lawsuits are part of the problem.”
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – While there have been conversations in our area about concerns over sex trafficking, there is another type of human trafficking that is also a growing concern, and that is labor trafficking.
“It could be the person who’s your next-door neighbor. It could be someone you run into at the grocery store,” said Call to Freedom Bilingual Case Manager Brandon Lainez.
A victim of labor trafficking could be hiding in plain sight, on the farm, the construction site, or in a local restaurant.
“That server, for example, is only making tips,” said Naomi Project Director Jordan Bruxvoort.
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Labor trafficking often begins with a recruiter preying on a vulnerable prospect in their home country.
“They are looking for people who don’t have a fallback,” Jordan said.
The promises fall flat once the victim is stateside, often on a guest worker visa. Jordan Bruxvoort of the Naomi project has heard the stories firsthand.
“Employer will change the terms of the contract, and then, when the worker speaks up, threaten to send that person back to their home country,” Jordan explained.
The same accounts are shared with case managers like Brandon Lainez at Call To Freedom.
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“Through domestic servitude, whether that be through beatings, not getting paid, false promises, terrible housing, sometimes very horrible conditions,” Brandon said.
Imagine the pressure of entrapment while arriving in a new country.
“Having to make weekly payments under the threat that if they don’t make these weekly payments, their family in their home country will be killed,” Jordan said.
Labor trafficking does happen in South Dakota. A Sioux Falls restaurant cited earlier this year.
“In a federal labor trafficking conviction. It was the first federal labor trafficking conviction that we’re aware of in South Dakota in more than 15 years,” Jordan explained.
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Those victimizing their employees take all they can.
“I want to point out that labor trafficking and sex trafficking sometimes can go hand in hand. Bad actors who traffic individuals will do it in all kinds of ways,” said Latesha Love-Grayer with the Government Accountability Office.
Bruxvoort has ideas for solutions.
“Go from a complaint-based reactive approach to a kind of culture shift prevention approach,” Jordan said.
Educating employees in targeted jobs can be empowering. Currently, guest worker visas only allow employees to work for the one job they applied for the visa. Immigration reform could provide a victim the leverage to change.
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“It’s really up to us and to our elected representatives to take action, given the enormous amount of documentation about how much trafficking has occurred under the H-2A and H-2b guest worker visa program,” Jordan said.
In extreme labor trafficking situations, help is available now.
“Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, people who are the victim of a severe form of trafficking can move forward and apply for a special visa called the T trafficking visa,” Jordan explained.
If you see an employee being kept away from customers, working long hours, or living in housing controlled by their employer, organizations like the Naomi Project, Call to Freedom and the local office of the Department of Homeland Security can help.
“We’re really hoping that Sioux Falls becomes the model for eradicating human trafficking from the formal economy,” Jordan said.
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The Naomi Project also offers labor trafficking identification training to employees in the restaurant and construction industry. In turn, the business can show participation in the anti-labor trafficking campaign.
There is also a responsible sourcing tool, where you can review your business or workplace to see if there are additional ways to protect against labor trafficking.
You can find the sourcing tool here.
Copyright 2024 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
Two FCS powers, No. 1 South Dakota State and No. 2 North Dakota State, meet for the 116th time on Saturday. The two will play in the 21st edition of the Dakota Marker rivalry (dating back to 2004).
Here’s how you can watch the exciting game:
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Date: Saturday, Oct. 19
TV channel: ESPN2
Streaming: WatchESPN
Location: Fargodome in Fargo, ND.
Live Stats: Follow live here
11:52 pm, October 17, 2024
Here’s how South Dakota State and North Dakota State stack up based on this season’s results:
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South Dakota State
2024 STATs
North Dakota State
5-1 (2-0)
Record (Conf)
6-1 (3-0)
No. 1
FCS poll rank
No. 2
39.0
Points per game
37.7
14.5
Points allowed
17.6
439.8
Yards per game
444.6
298.0
Yards allowed per game
302.0
194.67
Pass yards per game
232.4
200.67
Pass yards allowed per game
194.9
245.2
Rush yards per game
212.1
97.3
Rush yards allowed per game
107.1
QB Mark Gronowski 1,103 yards (11 TD, 5 INT)
Passing leader
QB Cam Miller 1,504 yards (12 TD, 0 INT)
RB Amar Johnson 480 yards (5 TD)
Rushing leader
RB CharMar Brown 544 yards (7 TD)
WR Griffin Wilde 407 yards (4 TD)
Receiving leader
WR Bryce Lance 418 yards (5 TD)
LB Adam Bock 43 tackles (4 TFL, 1 INT)
Defense
LB Logan Kopp 32 tackles (2 TFL, 1 INT)
11:52 pm, October 17, 2024
There have been two prior No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular season matchups in FCS history according to STATS Perform. See the results below.
Oct. 15, 2022: No. 2 South Dakota State 23, No. 1 North Dakota State 21 (Regular Season)
11:52 pm, October 17, 2024
No. 1 South Dakota State ranks ahead of No. 2 North Dakota State in the FCS Coaches Poll entering the Dakota Marker. Here’s what the rankings look like:
First-Place Votes
Poll
South Dakota State Votes
North Dakota State Votes
Montana State Votes
Coaches
21
2
3
STATS
38
8
10
11:52 pm, October 17, 2024
Last fall, South Dakota State dominated North Dakota State 33-16 in the Dakota Marker, winning four straight games in the rivalry and evening the all-time Dakota Marker series 10-10. The Jackrabbits have five straight games over the Bison when including the 2022 national title game with the Marker games.
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Here are some more memorable moments from the NDSU-SDSU rivalry
North Dakota State leads the all-time series 63-47-5. Here are all the meeting results since 2015:
Michigan State football has extended an offer to a tight end prospect from South Dakota.
Eddie Whiting of Sioux Falls, S.D. announced on Wednesday that he’s received an offer from the Spartans. Whiting made the announcement via the social media platform X.
Whiting plays for Jefferson High and is listed at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds.
Whiting is currently unranked on 247Sports, but has picked up interest from some other notable programs. Michigan State is only the second program to offer him a scholarship, but he also has received interest from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa State. FCS powerhouse South Dakota State is the other program to extend him an offer.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.