Larger attendance for second Haakon Co. town hall meeting – Last meeting to be held Thursday, May 30 at Haakon County Courthouse
On Tuesday, May 25, the county auditor, Stacy Pinney, conducted the second of three town hall meetings. With a bit better turn out from the community, and a much more relaxed environment, many discussions of the last town hall meeting resurfaced, but so did some new ones.
County commissioners Alan Rislov and Ryon Berry were present to ask questions and subsequently answer questions that were asked of them. Berry and Rislov informed the members of the community that there have been a lot of threatening emails from outside sources, but very little feedback from the community on the upcoming ordinance being placed on the ballot. They explained that while filing a petition is how to bring something onto the ballot, members are urged to go to commissioner meetings or to visit with the individuals of the commission on any issues that the county faces. Although a petition was filled out and filed, members of the community did not meet with any of the commissioners to talk about the ordinance that could take place. It appeared that there was miscommunication between the groups involved, so the members of the community did not attend commission meetings or visit with any of the commissioners before filing the petition.
Commissioner Rislov asked the community members, “What is the problem you have with the tabulator machine?” Several in attendance expressed that they have no issues with the local officials that put on the election, the problem lies in the company of ES&S. As explained in the previous issue of the Pioneer Review, ES&S is a company that is used nationwide for the tabulator machines, voting supplies, and thumb drives. They boast of complete security with their machines and claim that there is no way to hack into them, because they are not connected to the internet. According to Mark Nelson they are very secretive about their machines and processes of making and using the military grade thumb drives. “Many other states have questioned using the company for their services because of mishandling information. I trust the local officials to run an honest race, not the machines. When workers start their work at the polling place on election day, they must take an oath to express truth in everything they do, whereas machines do not have to take an oath,” expressed Nelson.
Auditor Pinney explained that she receives a flash drive via the mail from ES&S, and erases anything that is on the machine from running test ballots, before the election takes place. The machines are serviced and maintained before election day by the company with specific thumb drives to run tests and clean the machine. Pinney then gets thumb drives exclusively created for the polling day from ES&S. Pinney also explained that after the previous meeting she dug deeper into the finances to figure out where savings could be made. The extra express vote systems that will not be used and will save the county around $500 per election. Even though express machines are used for the disabled to have the option to vote, it still prints out a paper ballot. No ballots are online.
Pinney also explained that many people do not know that if they make a mistake on a ballot, they can get a new one up to three times to restart. The ballots that are soiled then go to a pile to be accounted for because all the ballots that started the day at the polling place must also be accounted for at the end of the day. Pinney explained that there must be a resolution board of two or more people, to make a final decision on any ballots that were spit out as unreadable and not counted by the machine.
A community member that was in attendance of the meeting asked Pinney, “If the internet was to go down, would voting still happen?” Pinney confidently explained that the only system that uses the internet is the poling pads. They also handwrite all voters’ names that come into the center to vote, so it would not pose any problems. Pinney also went through all the supplies that are generally ordered before each election, and she explained that they have more than enough for the upcoming election, in turn saving the county money.
Pinney contacted and asked ES&S questions that were brought up at the previous meeting like, “What is the life span of the tabulators?” ES&S explained that Haakon County’s machine is about five years old and is expected to run for 10-15 more years. ES&S expects the machines to last approximately 20 years. The initial cost is high for the machines, but the current machine was purchased with HAVA (Help America Vote Act) funds, according to previous auditor Carla Smith. Most of the technology machines and programs have been purchased with HAVA funding throughout the years. Pinney explained that she will be applying for a grant after the election to recoup the county funds used to run the express voting machines.
Haakon County also plans to have a post-election audit on June 12, 2024. Other states have run post-election audits for years, South Dakota not being one of them until this year. The audit must take place within days after the election. The polling place that is selected for the audit is drawn out of a hat, and there must be at least one hundred ballots counted by hand. Philip and Midland are the two biggest polling places in the county that make up two of the three places that could be audited. Because Milesville and Deep Creek will have less than one hundred voters per location, they will be placed together for the post-election audit if selected.
Ryon Berry informed the members at the meeting that the commissioners chose to let the people vote on the ordinance, because it is something that the whole community must deal with. The commission could vote and decide on such petitions without asking the community their thoughts. Several community members expressed concern that the wording on the ballot, written by the States Attorney is biased and doesn’t show information for both sides of the ordinance in question. The commissioners in attendance explained that they did not approve or reject the way that the States Attorney wrote the ballot information. He has the power to write the ballots anyway he chooses to, without approval from the commission or auditor. Tripp and Gregory counties’ states attorneys have the wording much shorter and to the point, with no monetary figures compared to Haakon County’s ballot.
The Auditor reminded the community members that these town hall meetings are not required, and no one is paid any extra to run or attend them. They are strictly to inform the members of the community of the upcoming ordinances being placed on the ballot. The final town hall meeting will take place in the courtroom of the Haakon County Courthouse on May 30, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. During this last meeting, the test run of the tabulator can be viewed by all in attendance. Pinney also plans to ask a few members from the crowd to hand count the ballots after the tabulator machine test run, to compare hand counting and machine tabulation. The Pioneer Review will be in attendance at the meeting and will be live streaming it on the Ravellette Publications Facebook page.
