After 'minimal' ballot discrepancies, commissioner questions intent of Minnehaha County audit

In the words of Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson, the difference between machine tabulated and hand-counted votes from the June 4 primary "looks minimal."

And that in itself is the benefit of hand-counting audits, she argued.

Anderson briefed the Minnehaha County Commission on the results of the county's first post-election audit during a meeting Tuesday.

The audit, which is required by South Dakota law, was conducted by Anderson and a team of about 50 volunteers June 25. Some of her helpers were sourced from South Dakota Canvassing Group, a electoral activism group pushing for the complete removal of machine tabulation.

Per previous Argus Leader reporting, Anderson expected the audit to take the better part of an afternoon, but the affair took nearly half a day to complete. This was, in part, due to Anderson's decision to review all 13,189 ballots cast in the county primary, instead of the 5% set in statute.

Anderson said there were 570 races scrutinized in the audit. Of those, her team found a discrepancy in several races, though almost all only differed by a single vote. While this could have flipped at least one race where a recount was requested, the difference would have had no effect on any of the other races where a do-over wasn't necessary.

Anderson asserted the minimal difference in votes as proof of the reliability of hand-counts. She told commissioners the hand-count adds a measure of transparency and civic engagement to the democratic process.

The vast majority of public comment came from supporters of Anderson, some of whom questioned the validity of machine tabulation.

This included Rick Weible, an Elkton election integrity activist who unsuccessfully ran against Senate Majority Leader Casey Crabtree for District 8. He lauded Anderson for pushing the extensive audit, which found three ExpressVote ballots — a system used by voters with disabilities — had not been properly stamped during the June 24 recount, and at least one more was located during the audit.

"What you've accomplished in Minnehaha County gives power back to the people," Weible told the commission Tuesday.

Not everyone in the room was on-board with the hand-count.

John Cunningham, of Sioux Falls, argued it "seems backward and wasteful" to use hand-counts to confirm the results of machine tabulation, which proved to be accurate and quick during the primary. He called it an inaccurate, slow and expensive process.

"You cannot use a flawed system to confirm a good system," Cunningham said.

Several commissioners also questioned the auditor's vision for her process, specifically when it comes to the November general election.

Commissioner Joe Kippley, who has clashed with Anderson in the past, shared concerns about whether Anderson could successfully hand-count an election that's larger in scope. The November general election, Kippley guessed, could have five times as many voters as the primary. Commissioner Dean Karsky later suggested a multiplier of seven.

Because of the lack of significant discrepancy, and because the auditor's misestimated duration and costs of the audit, Kippley said he doesn't believe "hand-counting is going to be the proper methodology."

"My forecast, just to respond, is that we had certain estimates of how long this would take … If we’re counting at 3 a.m., that’s just not a good perception to have," Kippley argued.

Anderson responded she believes she could round up enough volunteers for the general election.

Yet, it wouldn't be necessary, Anderson told the Argus Leader, because she's only planning to audit a fraction of upcoming election — anywhere from 5 to 25%.

"I think 100% audits are great, but it's not always feasible, so that's why I'm going to have to choose when I see how big the ballot is, how large the voter turnout is, and see how many ballots we're talking about, because it's all going to factor into that decision," Anderson said in an interview after the commission meeting.

The Argus Leader asked Anderson to respond to the accuracy of the machine tabulators, which showed a "minimal" difference compared to the hand-count.

"Just because this election was good and we were close, we still weren't close enough," Anderson said.

She claimed the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has a standard that a voting system should only have an error rate of one in 500,000. The Federal Election Commission does have a one in 500,000 maximum error standard that all voting equipment must meet, but these errors must be attributed to the voting machine to raise a compliance issue.

This is where Kippley casted doubt on Anderson's methods. The commissioner told the Argus Leader in a phone interview after the meeting the single-digit discrepancies uncovered by Anderson could have been errors in the hand-count rather than any machine tabulator.

"[But] they wouldn't be satisfied" even if the auditor and her supporters had the means to perform an exhaustive audit of the upcoming November election, Kippley suggested.

The recent audit is a headache for Kippley, who said he believes Anderson is passing on her other responsibilities as auditor to primarily focus on being an elections officer.

"She has delegated her other duties to other people in the office with expertise," Kippley said. He specifically referenced one Tuesday agenda item, a motion to approve a $2.5 million general fund opt-out, which the Minnehaha County Auditor's Office would present a resolution for.

Anderson was not present for the commission's action on the item, though her budget and finance officer, Susan Beaman, was available.

"[Anderson] is just kind of absent. I'm kind of OK with that, because I don't know if I would put a lot of stock in her opinions … I don't see her as the budget officer or the one to go for financial advice."

In a follow-up phone call, Anderson contended her focus on elections is "not abnormal," and her predecessor, Ben Kyte, also relied on current Budget and Finance Officer Susuan Beaman for the office's fiscal duties.

"I am overseeing the entire office," Anderson said. "I am not negating any of my duties, but since I just have me, and one election coordinator to focus on those duties, so it is not abnormal to focus on election duties when we're in an election year."

Anderson also waxed on what she deemed certain inefficiencies which made the hand-count take longer than anticipated. She said the process of having volunteers printing and signing their name on tally sheets and preparing certificates for the audit "slowed down the process quite a bit."

What would have also hastened the audit, Anderson and some of her supporters suggested, is if each voting precinct audited their own ballots before bringing them to the county.

The auditor didn't say she would request this change for the general election.

Aside from the misestimated duration of the audit, another hiccup came in the form of costs. Anderson previously told the Argus Leader the audit would cost about $4,500, but the final total added up to about $6,425 — $6,000 for the workers, $200 for mileage and $225 for food and water.

Because several volunteers did not show up for a training session the day of the audit, Anderson said she was forced to call for "backup" helpers to assist in the effort. They were not allowed to sign volunteer paperwork, Anderson said, which means they must legally be paid for their involvement.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: After 'minimal' ballot discrepancies, commissioner questions intent of Minnehaha County audit