Before I go into it about how this has turned out to be a total Kangaroo Kourt, the appointments;
Kea Warne (Public Employee, SD Department of Ag, former Elections Supervisor for the SOS)
Lorie Hogstad (Public Employee, Sioux Falls City Clerk)
Bruce Danielson (Citizen)
Sue Roust (Former auditor and elected official)
Joel Arends (Citizen, attorney)
Julie Pearson (Pennington County Auditor)
Deb Elofson (Citizen, Minnehaha County Democratic Party, Political director at Craft & Associates)
When they originally discussed how this process was supposed to go, Commissioner Kelly recommended that NO elected officials sit on this commission, which I agree, but as you can tell, they threw the bath water out with the baby, and have several former and current elected officials and public employees REVIEWING themselves. That seems fair 🙁
I was originally asked by Jeff Barth to be on the commission, and I accepted his invitation, but when he relayed that information to county administrators they had to call a whaaabulance about Jeff’s choice, so he chose someone else. The commission is so lucky they have administrators making choices for the commissioners, kind of reminds me of the directors telling city councilors what to do. I told Jeff I wanted to serve to keep a record more then anything about the proceedings, not to make a mockery of it. I also think I have covered enough of these elections to know what has and hasn’t work. When super precincts were first introduced by city clerk Owen, I saw the potential for problems, and there were, they promised those kinks would be worked out, but they haven’t, they have only made the process confusing. The first proposal I would bring to the table is the elimination of super precincts and a common election process within our city.
Besides Debra, Joel and Bruce, this Kourt seems to be stacked with people who cannot possibly give a fair assessment of the situation. There are several defenders of the SOS’s office, Bob’s office and the offending software supplier ES & S, not to mention defenders of our very clunky government processes when it comes to elections. Elections are NOT about saving money or new fangled devices, they are about fairness.
The findings should be interesting.
I believe it’s Julie Pearson, not Person. If so, she’s the current Pennington County Auditor. She should have some good suggestions on tabulation/absentee ballot processes.
I hope citizens will submit questions. I watched the public comments at recent commission meetings, and Jeff Barth says he’s been receiving comments, but I’m sure there are more people with questions about the election process.
Sue, thanks for clarifying that.
I’m not sure if questions need to be submitted, but SUGGESTIONS on how to make the process better, because currently the musical precincts and EDDM like absentee ballot mailings isn’t cutting it.
Who represents the School district?
The Staff was doing their job and attempting to ensure civility during the appointment process. If anyone deserves censure in this process it is me. I am the one who caved and changed my appointee.
I asked Scott as I feared that the public would be excluded from the process. The deceptions, the mistakes and the tainted election results must come to an end.
I thank Scott for fighting for an honest vote and for his willing service to his fellow citizens. But if anyone is responsible for the appointment “issueâ€, it is me, Jeff Barth.
Don’t be so hard on yourself Jeff. To tell you the truth, you made the best appointment of all with Debra.
I’m impressed with the attention the election review process has recieved. It’s sounding like irregularities will be noted and potentially corrected.
Joel Arends????????!!!!!!!!!! Really?????????? You would have been a better choice IMHO.
I’ve always thought Ken McFarland has way too much power and influence when it comes to the Minnehaha County Commission.
To add insult to injury Dick Kelly and Bob Litz wanted the meeting to be closed. WTF? Problems get solved in the OPEN, corruption and coverups prosper behind closed doors.