SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Minnehaha County Commissioners were upset after members of the public accused them of treason during a public meeting Tuesday.
During the meeting’s public comments, multiple people spoke about their frustrations about the state’s residency requirements for voter registration.
Under current South Dakota law, voters filling on registration forms must have “maintained residence in South Dakota for at least 30 days prior to submitting the registration form.” That state law conflicts with the federal Voting Rights Act of 1970 where no person shall be denied the right to vote “because of durational residency requirement or absentee balloting.”
This allows people who don’t live in South Dakota to register to vote at non-residential addresses like campgrounds or hotel rooms if they’re able to prove they stayed in the state for at least one night. South Dakota’s law appeals to full-time travelers such as those who live in a recreational vehicle.
At the commission meeting, Minnehaha County resident Jessica Pollema said she believes the sanctity of elections in the state are at risk if they allow “thousands of unverified perjured voters” to commit fraud by voting. She accused the county commissioners of treason for allowing them to vote.
“I’m a little upset right now,” commission chair Dean Karsky said after public comment ended. “I’ve spent six years active duty in the Air Force. I’m being accused of treason. I’m being told I need to do something. Nobody tells me what I’m supposed to do, I don’t prosecute laws. I’m a county commissioner.”
Karsky, who said the county commission does not have jurisdiction to prosecute, is upset about the allegations.
“We’re getting all this stuff about people breaking laws, I don’t prosecute laws. I’m not an attorney and I’m not law enforcement,” he said.
Commissioner Jean Bender verified that she reached out to the sheriff and law enforcement officers have turned over any information of election fraud or law violations over to the correct authorities.
“It’s being handled as any other report of a crime and it’s under consideration right now by the people who do have authority to take action about it if that’s deemed appropriate,” Bender said.
Minnehaha County Treasurer Kris Swanson stepped into the public comments portion to voice her concern for the increased personal mail boxes (PMB). She said a majority are coming from New York, California and Colorado.
“I worry about this because they don’t know the issues of our state, they just get to vote in our state,” she said.
Swanson noted that she thinks it’s an issue that needs to be fixed in the state Legislature and not the responsibility of the county commissioners. She also said the Department of Revenue said PMBs are a “major source of revenue.”
Commissioner Joe Kippley agreed with Swanson that the proper way to address these issues with residency requirements is going through the state Legislature to get the law changed. He also agreed that the current law allows more revenue into the state, which would be a “cost-benefit analysis” the Legislature needs to decide.
“The state Legislature needs to make the trade-off, public policy decision of do we want to be a low-cost state that attracts people to register their vehicles and do different things here or we could raise those fees and we could raise those costs and drive away those people,” Kippley said.
