At least three rural South Dakota counties will be voting on Tuesday to determine whether they should revert back to manual ballot counting. This move is part of a growing trend in communities across the country that are considering abandoning machine tabulators due to unfounded conspiracy theories stemming from the 2020 presidential election.
Three counties, each with a population of fewer than 6,000 residents, are set to become pioneers in the United States by implementing traditional hand counts for their elections. This method, which has largely been replaced by ballot tabulators in most parts of the country, will be reintroduced in these counties.
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Several states and local governments have contemplated the prohibition of machine counting following the 2020 election. However, these initiatives have mostly faltered due to concerns regarding expenses, the time-consuming nature of manual counting, and the challenges associated with hiring additional personnel.
Counting votes by hand is considered to be less accurate than using machine tabulation, according to experts.
Despite such concerns, proponents of the South Dakota initiative remain undeterred.
“We are firm believers in the decentralized approach to elections, as it offers enhanced security and transparency. We strongly believe that citizens should have the authority to oversee their own elections,” stated Jessica Pollema, president of SD Canvassing, a citizen group advocating for this change.
The push for hand counting in South Dakota, like in other places, stems from false claims propagated by former President Donald Trump and his allies following the 2020 presidential election. These claims alleged widespread voter fraud and perpetuated conspiracy theories about manipulated voting machines. However, no evidence has been found to substantiate these claims. Despite this, they have taken hold in many Trump-supporting areas.
The citizen initiatives in South Dakota are making progress in their efforts to prohibit tabulating machines. On Tuesday’s primary ballot, the initiatives will appear in Gregory, Haakon, and Tripp counties. These petition efforts are not limited to these counties alone; more than 40 other counties in the conservative state are also working towards similar goals. However, it is worth noting that there have been some challenges along the way. While some counties have embraced the idea of hand counting, at least four counties have rejected attempts to implement this change.
In February, the Fall River County Commission made the decision to manually count the ballots for the June election. Similarly, Tripp County also opted for hand counting of general election ballots in 2022.
If the measure is passed on Tuesday, Julie Bartling, the Auditor of Gregory County, mentioned that the county will need to increase the number of precincts in order to reduce the workload of manually counting the votes. Consequently, the county will be required to purchase additional assisted voting devices to accommodate disabled voters. Moreover, the county will face the challenging responsibility of recruiting more election workers.
According to Bartling, the county’s election official, she opposes the initiative and expresses her complete confidence in the automated tabulators.
According to Barb DeSersa, the Auditor of Todd and Tripp County, she is against the idea of mandating hand counting for all ballots. She believes that this method is not as accurate and points out that the hand count conducted in 2022 left election workers feeling exhausted.
DeSersa expressed his belief that those who had previously participated in the task were unwilling to be involved this time around. He speculated that after experiencing it once or twice, individuals would grow weary of the responsibility, making it increasingly challenging to find volunteers.
DeSersa’s office has provided an estimate of $17,000 to $25,000 for manually counting the elections in Tripp County. In comparison, using tabulators would cost approximately $19,000 to $21,000. Haakon County Auditor Stacy Pinney stated that she initially projected a cost range of $750 to $4,500 for hand counting, but determining the overall election cost at this stage is challenging.
According to an analysis conducted by a state attorney for Haakon County, it would require two election workers utilizing a tabulator to count all the ballots, which would take approximately three to four hours. On the other hand, if a hand count were to be conducted, it would involve 15 to 20 election workers and take between five and 15 hours, depending on the number of contested races.
According to a statewide report, the three counties have a total of 7,725 active registered voters.
Republican state Representative Rocky Blare, a resident of Tripp County, has announced his decision to vote against the measure.
Blare stated that there is no evidence to support any claims of election interference in South Dakota.
Secretary of State Monae Johnson, a Republican, expressed her confidence in tabulating machines, highlighting their extensive use over the years. In a statement, she emphasized the presence of safeguards incorporated into the process, as well as the post-election audit conducted on the machines after both the primary and general elections, ensuring their proper functionality.
In the upcoming June election, a post-election audit will take place for the first time. This new process, mandated by a state law passed in 2023, aims to ensure the accuracy of machine tabulation by conducting a manual count of all votes in two selected races from 5% of precincts in every county. Secretary of State Johnson’s office has affirmed that there were no significant issues reported during the 2020 and 2022 elections. However, it was noted that one individual attempted to vote twice, but was apprehended.
In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Dominion Voting Systems faced relentless attacks on the accuracy of their machine-counting of ballots. To address the false claims repeatedly aired by Fox News, Dominion reached a $787 million settlement in a defamation case. The judge presiding over the case, unequivocally stated that none of the allegations made about Dominion’s machines were true. Testimony further revealed that several Fox hosts harbored doubts about the claims propagated by their own network.
Since 2020, there have been only a handful of counties that have transitioned to manual ballot counting. For instance, in Shasta County, California, officials made the decision to eliminate their ballot tabulators. However, state lawmakers later imposed restrictions on hand counts, limiting them to specific situations. Similarly, in Mohave County, Arizona, officials turned down a proposal to manually count ballots in 2023, citing the significant cost of $1.1 million.
According to David Levine, a former local election official in Idaho and now a senior fellow with the Alliance for Securing Democracy, studies have demonstrated that hand counting a significant number of ballots is more expensive, less precise, and more time-consuming compared to using machine tabulators.
In some regions, ballots are counted manually, particularly in the Northeast, where the number of registered voters is relatively low. Hand counts are frequently conducted as part of post-election tests to ensure the accuracy of the machines’ ballot counting. However, only a small fraction of the ballots undergo manual verification.
