South Dakota Supreme Court denies bid to exclude ballots initially rejected from June election

PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota Supreme Court has rejected an effort to exclude more than 100 absentee ballots that had initially been rejected but were later counted in the state’s June election.

The leader of a conservative election group and an unsuccessful Republican legislative candidate asked the court last month to order the top election official in Minnehaha County, home to Sioux Falls, to “revert to the unofficial vote count totals” without the 132 ballots, and “to conduct a thorough review” of registered voters in two precincts, among other requests.

The court on Friday denied the pair’s request, meaning the ballots, which a recount board later included, will stand.

In June, South Dakota Canvassing President Jessica Pollema had challenged ballots in the two precincts. She alleged that voter registration forms were either incomplete or listed addresses that weren’t where voters actually lived, in violation of state and federal law. One precinct board denied her challenge. The other, in a legislative district represented by all Democrats, rejected 132 of 164 challenged ballots.

The challenge drew the attention of Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s office, which had advised a county official that the challenged items didn’t meet state law.