SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Minnehaha County has begun the lengthy process of counting ballots in the most populous county in the state and they will do so under the watchful eye of observers.
As of 8:20 p.m., more than an hour after polls closed in eastern South Dakota, Minnehaha County has yet to report any results.
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KELOLAND News caught up with Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson at 7:30 p.m., and despite a slow start to the ballot count, she was in positive spirits.
“Nothing major” had happened, said Anderson, “except we’re getting a really slow start on this. The absent ballot process has taken a good amount of time today.”
Anderson says she was hoping to start tabulating ballots earlier, but that things were going slowly.
She said a few ballots were ran around 4:30 p.m., but “not many at all.”
Watching the four tabulation machines from the viewing area, there were many stops and a slow progression. “It’s ballots that have to go to resolution (ballots with questionable markings) and it just takes a while,” said Anderson.
She explained that these questionable ballots, which may have over-votes or missed marks on the ballot, go to the top bin and are reviewed by the resolution board.
“We want to make sure, was it a pen rest (a mark from someone resting their pen tip on the ballot), or was it an actual over-vote,” said Anderson.
Anderson was asked what the timeline was now looking like considering the slow start. “Oh, we’ll be here till morning hours, I’m sure,” she said. “We’ll be here tomorrow working.”
Previous updates can be found below.
Minnehaha County has 136,817 registered voters, accounting for over 20% of South Dakota’s registered voters.
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The United States Department of Justice monitored voting in Minnehaha County, one of four counties in South Dakota to receive this oversight.
KELOLAND’s Perry Groton was live at the Minnehaha County Commission chambers where the county is tabulating ballots. He said while ballot counting began around 4:30 p.m., counting was stopped quickly due to “questionable ballots,” at which time he said the county’s resolution board stepped in to determine what to do with questionable markings on the ballots.
The DOJ made the announcement last week that it would be monitoring 86 jurisdictions in 27 states for compliance with federal voting rights laws.
Anderson said these DOJ watchers have been out at precincts observing, and that she has had limited interaction with them aside from introducing them to poll workers and providing needed information.
“I haven’t been informed of anything, but I’m sure they’re putting their list together of things that they might get back to us on,” said Anderson.
The county began counting its around 30,000 absentee ballots at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
At noon, Anderson told KELOLAND News she expects arounds 30,000 absentee ballots to be processed Tuesday.
She said she is expecting “a very long” night at the county administration building.
“We’ve had a lot of long nights leading up to today,” Anderson said.
As of around 5:30 p.m., Anderson told KELOLAND that some precincts in the county were running low on ballots, but that they were being resupplied.
KELOLAND News will be monitoring the ballot counting process in Minnehaha County throughout Tuesday night and updates will be posted in this story.
