PIERRE, SD — The South Dakota Supreme Court has rejected an attempt to exclude more than 100 mail ballots that were initially rejected but were later counted in the state’s June elections.
The leader of a conservative election group and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Legislature asked the court last month to order the top elections official in Minnehaha County, home to Sioux Falls, to “return to the unofficial vote counts” without the 132 ballots and to “conduct a thorough investigation” of registered voters in two precincts, among other requests.
The court denied the two’s request on Friday, meaning the ballots, which were later taken by a recount committee, will remain in place.
In June, Jessica Pollema, chair of South Dakota Canvassing, challenged ballots in the two precincts, claiming that the voter registration forms were incomplete or listed addresses where voters did not actually live, in violation of state and federal law. One precinct board denied her challenge. The other, in a legislative district represented only by Democrats, rejected 132 of the 164 challenged ballots.
The dispute drew the attention of Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s office, who notified a county official that the disputed items did not comply with state law.