Secretary of State-Elect Monae Johnson campaigned because the candidate who would safe South Dakota’s elections.

That message helped her defeat Democratic challenger Tom Cool – who campaigned on issues about Johnson being an “election denier” – with 65% of the vote.

She’s certainly one of only a few election deniers to win statewide workplace throughout the mid-term election, and he or she did it with the assistance of a distinguished Minnesota election conspiracy theorist, Rick Weible. The previous small-town Minnesota mayor has been a key determine in spreading election conspiracies round Minnesota since 2020.

Johnson has declined to say if she subscribes to the conspiracy principle that the 2020 election was stolen however her proposals for election legislation adjustments in South Dakota align with these of right-wing election deniers. Adjustments equivalent to an audit of each precinct in South Dakota and a state-level push to persuade county auditors to hand-count all ballots. She additionally suggests lawmakers take into account barring the usage of tabulator machines altogether.

Election officers throughout the state — together with the outgoing secretary of state and a county auditor who presided over the past absolutely hand-counted election almost 20 years in the past — fear that such adjustments would complicate counting and render it much less correct.

“You’d by no means get an correct rely,” mentioned Julie Pearson, the previous Pennington County auditor who oversaw the transition from hand-counted ballots to tabulation. “Plus, the time. Our scanners, I feel, run 200 ballots a minute.”

Johnson involves workplace with election credentials of her personal. She spent greater than eight years working within the workplace she’ll take over in January. She mentioned her expertise within the secretary of state’s workplace confirmed her the worth of customer support. Her predecessor, Steve Barnett, excelled in that regard, Johnson mentioned, however she additionally mentioned there are vital variations.

“The principle distinction is I’m completely in opposition to voter fraud, on-line voting, or on-line voter registration and updates, and that secretary of state (Barnett) was pushing it his complete 4 years,” Johnson mentioned. “His newest invoice was that in the event you have been already within the system, you would log on and replace your tackle to make it extra handy.”

Barnett mentioned voters can’t change any of their voting info by the state’s on-line system. The invoice he proposed that may have made that attainable, which didn’t go, would have required a legitimate state identification and Social Safety card to make any change.

Machine distrust

Barnett has publicly rejected tabulator-related issues of voter fraud. However Johnson mentioned her issues about voting tabulator machines and on-line voter updates are shared by “extremely certified professionals.”

“I had individuals reaching out to me saying ‘no’ as a result of something will be hacked,” Johnson mentioned. “That was the largest factor. The individuals reaching out to me have been IT individuals, navy individuals.”

Johnson didn’t identify the IT and navy sources who expressed these issues, however marketing campaign supervisor Gretchen Weible did: Mainly, her husband Rick Weible, a former mayor of St. Bonifacius, Minnesota, who traveled Minnesota previous to the midterms and posted movies claiming election fraud and pushing for adjustments to election procedures, {hardware}, and software program. The Weibles have been on stage with Johnson throughout her election night time victory speech in downtown Sioux Falls.

Rick Weible mentioned his time as mayor uncovered him to the issues of machine counts, which led him to the election integrity fray.

“It was off by one to 2 votes each election,” Weible mentioned.

Nonetheless, Weible mentioned tabulators proved precious in post-election audits.

The Johnson marketing campaign additionally pointed to Jessia Pollema of South Dakota Canvassing — a corporation that advocates in opposition to digital gadgets in South Dakota elections.

The gang pushing election integrity has a misunderstanding of what “the machines” in query are and do, Barnett mentioned.

“These individuals suppose something that may be plugged right into a wall will be hacked, whether or not it has a modem or not,” he mentioned.

The state already makes use of paper ballots and requires voter ID, however Johnson mentioned there’s room for enchancment. Particularly, she wish to implement a post-election evaluation. All however 5 states have some type of post-vote audit, and people audits can look very totally different from state to state.

A March story within the Reformer about an election reform rally that featured Rick Weible famous that 3% of precincts in that state carry out hand counts after every election. These counts are noticed by representatives from each events.

The 400,000-ballot audit of the 2020 election in Minnesota confirmed the validity of the state’s machine-run outcomes.

Secretary-elect Johnson wish to see auditors in every county take a pattern of the ballots from every precinct and hand rely them to ensure the votes line up with tabulator machine counts.

“And if the hand rely matches, your precinct is sweet to go,” Johnson mentioned.

Hand-counting ballots

County auditors make the decision about tabulator use on the county stage, however Johnson mentioned she would advise in opposition to their use. It will take legislative motion to put off tabulators altogether.

“I do know there’s lots of people that may love all of the machines gone,” Johnson mentioned.

One South Dakota county tried hand-counting ballots on Election Day. Tripp County gave it a go throughout the latest midterms – the one South Dakota county in almost 20 years to carry out one.

A number of races needed to be recounted by Tripp County’s volunteer counting boards — typically three or 4 instances — on election night time. Seventy-five ballots even went “lacking” in a single precinct throughout the post-election audit.

Mockingly, the reason for the mismatch was recognized by a voting tabulator — the machines Johnson and Tripp County commissioners dislike.

“It’s been a nightmare,” Tripp County Auditor Barb Desersa instructed South Dakota Searchlight the day after the election. “To me, it’s plain as day (that the machine is extra correct), however I do know there are others that don’t see it that approach and query it.”

Johnson advisor Rick Weible mentioned the difficulty in Tripp County wasn’t hand-counting ballots, however that the individuals counting these ballots grew drained. A fine-tuned course of for hand counts would alleviate fatigue-related issues, he mentioned.

“The way in which we’re doing it in South Dakota is horrible,” Weible mentioned. “We’d like a number of shifts.”

For bigger counties like Pennington, the place almost 46,000 ballots have been solid for the 2022 normal election, counting by hand isn’t real looking, Auditor Cindy Mohler mentioned.

Mohler expects election integrity laws will likely be launched throughout the upcoming legislative session, however she hopes legislators attain out and hearken to officers like her.

“Please speak to your county auditors, They’re those within the trenches, coping with this day by day. The legal guidelines will have an effect on the work they do,” Mohler mentioned.

Minnehaha County Auditor Ben Kyte echoed Mohler’s issues about transferring away from tabulators.

“It will create some challenges,” Kyte mentioned. “We had over 75,000 ballots solid. I’d be involved in regards to the accuracy of hand counting.”

Rick Weible mentioned bigger counties are divided into precincts, making hand counts possible.

Auditor with hand-counting expertise trusts tabulators

Former Pennington County Auditor Julie Pearson oversaw that county’s transition from hand-counted ballots to tabulator counts in 2004.

“(I) assure you 99.9% of the time your machine rely is extra correct than a hand rely is ever going to be,” Pearson mentioned. “They’re gonna lose observe of the place they’re at. And when all you’re doing is doing little sticks (to maintain rely), you recognize, one two, three 4 5, how do you not lose observe of the place you’re at?”

The present system in South Dakota already gives a pre-election audit, she mentioned. Previous to an election, a foot-tall deck of filled-out pattern ballots is run by the tabulators, Pearson mentioned.

“After which on election night time, we’re required to run the take a look at deck by every machine,” Pearson mentioned. “And our machines are safe. The auditor’s workplace is all the time locked. No person is allowed in there. As soon as we begin voting or have ballots, no person else touches our ballots however deputy auditors and legislation enforcement.”

Pearson disagrees with Johnson’s coverage prescriptions, however she thinks her intentions come from the proper place.

“Whether or not you name her an election denier or not, I feel it’s good that any new secretary of state, as the first election official within the state of South Dakota … evaluation the whole lot that’s in that election course of,” Pearson mentioned. “That’s actually a part of their job.”

Johnson mentioned she doesn’t need to make elections and voting tougher for individuals. She’s notably involved about voting rights for the state’s Native American inhabitants, she mentioned.

“I need to work with the tribes,” Johnson mentioned. “I don’t know if different secretaries of state have reached out to the tribes. So as soon as I’m sworn in, that’s certainly one of my most important targets.”

Past elections

The workplace of the secretary of state is chargeable for state elections and South Dakota’s public paperwork. That’s one other space Johnson sees room for enchancment.

The state’s marketing campaign finance expenditure experiences should be extra navigable, she mentioned. A searchable database would assist reporters “observe the cash path.”

“Quite a lot of reporters reached out to me and mentioned, ‘Is there any approach that we may simply put in a reputation like, say Monae Johnson, after which see who Monae donated to proper now?’ You possibly can’t do this search proper now.”

This story initially appeared in South Dakota Searchlight, a States Newsroom publication and sibling website of the Minnesota Reformer.