Per Secretary of State Steve Barnett, 40,000 absentee ballots had been cast in Minnehaha County as of early Tuesday morning. Statewide, 205,000 ballots had already been received, more than double the 102,000 absentee ballots that were cast in 2016. Absentee ballots had to be requested by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 2, and received by the county auditor on election day prior to polls closing.
In South Dakota, absentee ballots are not counted until the day after polls close. Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz has said that his staff would begin putting those ballots through the machines at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. This means the results on Tuesday evening after polls closed were very preliminary.
In 2016, 370,093 total votes were cast in South Dakota, and there were 544,428 registered voters. As of Tuesday morning, 578,666 people in South Dakota were registered to vote, which meant that 35% of all registered voters, and more than 55% of the total number of votes cast in 2016, had already turned in a ballot.
“The people running things there [at the polls] were worried, but they had a good system going this morning,” said Garretson Mayor Greg Beaner on Tuesday. When the polls opened in Garretson at 7:00 a.m., there was a line stretching to Sander’s Printing on Main Avenue, but few people had to wait longer than a half hour to vote. By the time the polls closed at 7:00 p.m., 1,035 had voted in person in Garretson.
Election results for Minnehaha County will be posted as soon as they are available. As of 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, 41% of the vote in Minnehaha County had been reported.
