Leah Anderson suggests in-person voting should end on Friday before Election Day
By Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight
SIOUX FALLS — Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson and her supporters defended the time it took to finalize election results at the county’s official canvas meeting Friday.
Anderson and members of the public also used the meeting as a platform to pitch reform measures they said would speed things up, including moves that would reduce the number of absentee ballots cast.
Anderson’s office didn’t post final results until shortly after 3 p.m. on Wednesday — about 20 hours after polls closed. Minnehaha County was the last in the state to finish, drawing ire from some Sioux Falls lawmakers.
Anderson said Wednesday that nearly 30,000 absentee ballots cast in the county slowed the process. Resolution boards recreated ballots sent from overseas to run through the tabulators, she said, which took more time. Absentee ballots are time-intensive, she said, and involve verifying voter information, opening envelopes and preparing ballots for scanning.
Anderson said she worked 33 hours between Election Day and Wednesday to complete results.
Thirty-three hours straight is “incredible” and “almost ridiculous,” said Minnehaha County Commissioner Gerald Beninga. He said the commission would review the process in the coming weeks with Anderson to “make more improvements if necessary.”
“Our goal is to be accurate, not fast,” Beninga said. “If some people are concerned about the time it takes, we have to have priorities and that priority is not speed but accuracy.”
Anderson told reporters after the meeting she needs more space to accommodate the growth in absentee ballots. Anderson could not constantly observe the entire process Tuesday and Wednesday because absentee ballot counting was split into two rooms, while the resolution boards and tabulating machines were in another.
Additionally, Anderson wants to stop allowing early, in-person voting on the Friday before Election Day. The break on Monday before the election would allow her staff to focus on organizing absentee ballots and preparing for Election Day, she said.
Such a change would require legislative action. South Dakota state law currently allows for absentee voting until 5 p.m. the day before the election.
At least 25 states, as well as Washington D.C. and territories Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, set a break between early voting and an election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Indiana, Ohio and Kansas end early voting the day before an election, but before the end of the work day.
South Dakota has one of the longest in-person absentee voting periods in the country. The state allows residents to vote in-person or request a mail-in absentee ballot 46 days before an election. Delaware has the longest absentee mail-in voting period at 60 days ahead of a general election, but allows for in-person voting 10 days before an election.
Jessica Pollema is president of South Dakota Canvassing Group, which advocates for election changes such as hand counting ballots. She suggested to commissioners that ending the “45-day, no excuse absentee referral” would yield faster results statewide because it would mean fewer absentee ballots
“If we want to cast stones, I think the legislators should look at themselves,” Pollema said, referring to criticism levied by some lawmakers about counting delays.
Sioux Falls Republican Rep. Tony Venhuizen was one of the most outspoken. Venhuizen posted his concern on X, formerly Twitter, and spoke to news outlets about it.
He said Friday after the meeting that he’d be reluctant to shorten early voting, saying the increased access makes it easier for South Dakotans to make time to vote.
“What’s clear is there’s a problem, and it’s a problem specific to Minnehaha County,” Venhuizen said.
Pennington County Auditor Cindy Mohler told the Argus Leader her team counted ballots until 5 a.m. Wednesday. The state’s second-largest county had 48,663 ballots cast and reported a large share of absentee ballots. Minnehaha County had 80,071 ballots cast this election, with 28,707 absentee ballots.
Venhuizen said the state’s voting system has worked for decades and that it “used to work totally fine in Minnehaha County.”
“I think we’re all open to change, but we also want to understand what changed in the last election or two that it’s suddenly a problem,” Venhuizen said.
Minnehaha generally takes longer than other counties, but counting went into the daylight hours in the 2020 general election and in this year’s election. Both saw the largest statewide absentee ballot totals in history: 216,140 in 2020 before the election and 141,554 in 2024.
South Dakota is one of seven states, in addition to Washington D.C., that does not allow election officials to process absentee ballots until Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. South Dakota is one of fourteen states, and Washington D.C., that does not allow counting until polls close.
Commissioners said they plan to conduct an election review in the coming weeks.
The commission also drew its precincts and races for the post-election audit at its meeting. The post-election audit will be Nov. 21.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
