SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson briefed county commissioners today on the post-election audit she conducted after the June primary election. Anderson opted to hand-count all of the ballots for the audit. The audit showed the machines and hand count to be off by one to three votes in some races, but not enough to change any outcomes.
South Dakota law says there has to be a hand count audit of 5% of precincts after an election. Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson decided to hand count 100% of the votes cast in the June primary. Today, Anderson went before the county Commission to brief commissioners on the audit.
Auditing is important it holds people accountable and it verifies that you can trust a system. It’s not something you can do once and say we are done with it. It has to be done on a regular basis.
Commissioners voiced their support for the state-mandated audits but expressed concerns about the cost and time involved in hand counting instead of using tabulators, especially in large elections. The commission meeting room was filled with many who believed vote tabulating machines could be manipulated. Several voiced their concerns during the public comment portion of the meeting.
“It’s very efficient again, provides transparency, and gives those of us who don’t trust the machines comfort . Anytime you can get more of your people involved in elections I think it gives people a lot more comfort knowing that things are counted the way they are supposed to be counted.” said one resident.
However, not everyone believes hand counting is the answer.
“We have a machine that counts fast, inexpensively, completely, accurately, and reliably, and we are confirming it with a bad system. Hand counting is notoriously biased, subject to fraud, and slow and expensive, said John Cunningham of Minnehaha County.
When asked about her assessment, Anderson says she feels using tabulators and hand counting together is the answer. Commissioners also wanted to know if she has plans to hand count votes in an audit of the November general election, which would involve a much larger number of votes to count.
Anderson indicated she doesn’t have a plan yet.
“It’s very hard to tell at this point. I don’t know what all is on the ballot. It’s not completely set in stone yet. I don’t know what the turnout is going to be like, so I will have to gauge what I think we could do again in a day. I will have to gauge that once we have more information,” she said.
Anderson told the commissioners that this was the first-hand count during her time as an auditor and that she believed the process could be more efficient in the future. Anderson says she plans to ask the state to reimburse the county for some of the costs associated with the primary election’s hand count.
