Minnehaha County Auditor’s office fearless leader, “Not sure if they have enough signatures. They won’t let me look in their minivan.”
UPDATED: BTW, my apologies to Litz. He apparently is telling the truth in this matter, according to the Argus.
I will admit, I am surprised the opt-out signature gatherers were able to get 5,400 signatures. I do know there was 35+ volunteers out there getting them. The problem is the short time they had to get them (20 days). As I told one of the volunteers the other day, “This is done on purpose to make it very, very, difficult for citizens to overturn legislation.”
You should always try to get at least 20% over your needed amount for a buffer. But like I said, time constraints are a bitch.
Shortly before a 5 p.m. deadline today, activists say they turned in about 5,400 signatures, more than the 5,334 they need.
Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz didn’t count or verify the referral petitions today. That process will begin on Thursday. But his office did a rough, unofficial count and say the opponents might be thousands of signatures short.
C’mon Bob! You determined from a ‘rough count’ they were thousands short? I suggest that if Bob ‘Can’t get enough ballots to the precincts’ Litz deems them invalid, that the group ask for an independent audit agreed upon by both parties. How can you trust a county auditor that 1) collects his paycheck from the very county that is asking for a tax increase and 2) chased the petition gatherers out of the Republican booth at the SE fair? it is pretty damn obvious he has a bias in this matter, and his hands should be kept off of the petitions. I would also suggest the group have a representative sitting right next to the auditor reviewing the signatures. Remember this same office can’t even distribute ballots correctly, blaming it on a mini-van taking the ballots hostage. My confidence in the current auditor’s office is at a all time low, and his current support system, SOS Jason Gant, doesn’t know petition laws from a freaking hole in the ground. I guess he is too busy tracking people who are visiting his website.
Will the audit of these signatures be fair? I guess we will have to wait and see. I’m not holding my breath.