Downtown Sioux Falls businesses are partnering with local non-profit organization Leaders Engaged and Determined (LEAD) South Dakota to launch a voter registration campaign to take place from September 25-October 22, 2018.
The campaign involves more than a dozen businesses in downtown Sioux Falls and is part of National Voter Registration Day. While visiting a participating business, patrons can register to vote with employees equipped to assist in the registration process. By making voter registration easier, LEAD is hoping to encourage any unregistered citizens to get involved in the democratic process.
Downtown Sioux Falls business owners are excited to engage patrons on a local level.
“Community involvement is important because if you want to change the world, you need to think global and act local,†said Brian Gochal, owner of Vishnu Bunny Tattoo. “We can’t wait for someone else to make the world a better place.â€
“We believe that it’s important for South Dakotans to be registered to vote because elected officials make decisions that impact all of our lives,†said Susan Kroger, co-chair and founding member of LEAD. “By having the information and means to register at downtown businesses, we’re hoping to make it easier for people to participate.â€
The campaign kicks off on Tuesday, September 25 which is also National Voter Registration Day.
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Founded in 2016, LEAD South Dakota exists to foster a bipartisan community of individuals who empower and encourage positive change for women and families in South Dakota. For more information or LEAD South Dakota’s work, please visit www.leadsouthdakota.org.
If you watch my testimony (FF:32:30) you will see that all I did was ask questions about how the vote was counted, presented historical data from other elections and asked to audit the election (see the processes, the software used, the paperwork from vote transfers and who entered the numbers in the system). The school board refused to answer any of the questions I asked. Never once did I say I thought they cheated I only questioned the precedent and would like to see the evidence. I even ended by saying that they may have reached the 85% precedent. I don’t know, I don’t have the evidence, it is locked up with the ballots according to the school district official who handled the election Bev Chase. In fact after the meeting Bruce and I asked if we could examine the ballots. She said NO. She also claimed she told the (TV) news that she was shredding the 2017 ballots. The news may have edited her, so I will take her word. But in the next breath she said she is keeping the school bond ballots for 6 years. So if you are keeping those ballots for 6 years why are you destroying the 2017 ballots? Made no sense at all.
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UPDATE: First the important business. A shout out to friend of the blog and KSOO Host, Patrick Lalley for defending me today and open government. It meant a lot. He hasn’t put the replay up yet, but his comment about ‘Soviet Election Results’ was very comical.
Also another shout out to Stace Nelson for defending me on the tweet machine;
It is absolutely the right of a taxpayer to question their government & demand answers. In a state that has covered up hundreds of millions of $ in corruption in EB5 & GEAR Up? @SouthDacola had a right to ask the questions and receive answers. Why not machine count?
As for Stace’s comments on machine counting, I got an update from someone who talked to the Minnehaha county auditor on the ‘cancelled contract’ statements from the SFSD. I guess Mr. Litz was asked to handle the absentee but not the election. Litz felt this would complicate things with the verification process and he would prefer to run the entire election (absentee and regular election) or not at all. We know the choice the school district made.
Also, a city official asked the City Clerk, Tom Greco today what he would do if a citizen asked to look at the ballots from the last election? He said, he would let them look at them.
Funny how the County Auditor and City Clerk have no qualms about the work they did. Why? Because when you have checks and balances in place, you don’t need to worry about a citizen review.
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Besides NOT answering my questions or giving me the information I need to put this to rest, board member Mickelson said that I was accusing them of manipulation and it was my duty to provide evidence or proof. Um, maybe I am missing something here, but YOU hold the evidence and Bev Chase refused to give it to us.
It is a sad day in a democracy when the citizens who vote and pay taxes are not allowed to examine the processes of the election. It is even sadder that they couldn’t even answer my questions in a public forum. Petitions get challenged all the time in South Dakota. This doesn’t mean people don’t trust the process, it only means we want to check the process. I find it incredibly hypocritical of Mickelson getting upset over challenging the results of the election when her husband Mark led the charge to overturn the will of the voters on IM 22, claiming it was ‘Unconstitutional’ (even though the Supreme Court didn’t get a chance to review it) and voters were ‘hoodwinked.’ So I guess what Cynthia was telling me is that ONLY the House of Lords in Pierre have the power to challenge and overturn elections, the peasants be damned.
All I saw tonight was a lot of guilt, and ironically the main players in the election (school staff) sat mysteriously quiet while the school board defended them. Cat must of had their tongues.
I would even be comfortable with Bev Chase releasing a public statement telling us the processes they used, who counted the votes, how they were entered into the system and a sampling of how the software worked. They can’t even give us that. Why?! It seems incredibly silly to me to get so angry because we are asking how the election was handled. Is that some kind of top secret information? All we have at this point is a short FB video from Brady Mallory. Why not clear the air?
Through the beginning of the meeting when they were talking about the schools they were going to build, the locations and announcing the architect (Architecture Inc.) it seemed like a forgone conclusion that this would pass.
In the parking lot before the meeting Vernon Brown came up from behind me and said, “85 is my new favorite number.” I laughed and said, “Yeah, 85%.” Then I said, “About time Ellie won something.” Ellie Highstreet who received $21K to consult the Vote Yes campaign was Jim Entenman’s campaign consultant. That in itself should tell us something.
Like I said, it is impossible for me to say whether or not the 85% mark is accurate until we have a chance to audit and examine all the election documentation and processes. Historically in other similar elections in and around Sioux Falls it has never happened. But there is a first time for everything, unfortunately we may never know, because as they inferred many times tonight, “Just trust them, they’re good people.” I do trust people, but I trust the numbers more. Numbers don’t lie.
The answer to that question is pretty simple. Woodgrain.
But I decided to list in order (from best to worst) breweries in Sioux Falls. Surprisingly some of the most popular breweries are the lowest on my list. And I will tell you why. As someone who has been drinking micro-brews for over 20 years I think I have gotten a pretty good palate. While I wouldn’t call myself a beer nerd, I do know what I like.
Woodgrain Brewing. It’s pretty simple why Woodgrain is surperior, Quality and Consistency. They have rarely made a bad beer and they have always had a lot of complexity and diversity in their lineup.
Homestead. While they are NOT in Sioux Falls, they are in the immediate area. What makes Homestead great is the freshness of the beer due to the fact they grow their own Hops. The Brewery is located on the Hops farm property and has been in the family for decades.
Gandy Dancer. Located in Monks, Gandy is one of the first breweries in Sioux Falls (new generation after the closure of Sioux Falls Brewery) Gandy’s beers are unique. While I don’t like everything they make, I do like the extensive creativity in the beers.
Hydra. I think Hydra got off to a rough start. I said once that their original IPA tasted like sawdust. But I they have gotten pretty good at making stouts and fruit beers.
Miner. While Miner was shipping their beers in from the West side of the state they now will be brewing at their new location in Sioux Falls. I suspect with all the local talent in brewing Miner will climb the ladder.
Fernson. While Fernson may be the biggest brewery in Sioux Falls and the most popular and widely distributed, I mostly attribute that to clever marketing and a lot of it. While their beer has gotten ‘better’ (I can actually drink a couple of Lion’s Paws) they lack the quality and consistency of their competitors.
Remedy. Don’t get me wrong, Remedy has some good beers but a lot them fall flat on their face with delivering what you are expecting. I know they have the right equipment to brew, a fantastic space and the talent. I suspect Remedy will come out of it’s growing pains and start delivering more quality beers soon.
Honorable Mention; Take 16 in Luverne, Minnesota. They make some fantastic beers and are only a few short miles from Sioux Falls.
There are also 2 new breweries opening within the year in Sioux Falls and maybe even a 3rd one (that one is a surprise!)
So besides breweries in town, where are some other places to get your ‘micro brew’ fix on?
Monks House of Ale Repute. Hands down best selection in Sioux Falls.
Bonus Round Bar. Bar manager Allen does a great job of having diversity in his taps, bottles and cans. You can even get a silo of PBR.
Taphouse 41. While their service is incredibly horrible, their beer selection is really good.
I’m sure I will get a lot of heck for this post, but I really don’t care. The one thing to remember about drinking microbrews is it is about what you like. For instance, I don’t like sours. Even though I rated these Sioux Falls breweries I recommend you try all of them. Support your local businesses!
Well, we should have seen this coming. For years people have suspected we would change our name to Stanferd Falls because of all the dirty money Zillionaire B. Danny Stanferd has given to the city.
CEO of Stanferd Health Systems, Kelsey Krabbypants, said, “We really never liked the ‘feel’ of Stanferd Falls, but with the Stanferd International Golf tournament in Sioux Falls for the next 5 years and the cool sounding name of International Falls, MN, we thought Stanferd International Falls had a nice ring to it.”
Some are wondering how this name change got thru the mayor’s office and city council without any public hearings. Krabbypants remarked, “Oh, the city council? Uh, they really don’t have any power and with all the kooks that come to public input at the meeting we decided to go straight to the top. Since we found it so easy to pay off virtually all of our local media, throwing some money at the Mayor was a snap. Besides, not sure if he even knew about the executive order since his COS staff signed it, like most of his executive orders.”
We also asked Kelsey how we would pay for the signage changes since the cost could be in the millions. “That’s simple, we will just have to do a bunch of unnecessary tests on medicare patients over the next few years to cover it.”
This is the time to come and speak about how the election was handled and publicly challenge the election results. I hope to show up with data supporting my argument that an 85% approval rating for a $300 million dollar school bond is historically impossible.
l3wis 
