It looks like Pat Powers got it right: Secretary of State Shantel Krebs has kicked Democrat Mary Perpich off the District 7 Senate ballot. I check the official SOS candidate list this morning and see “Decertified” next to Perpich’s name:
Powers says he’s heard SOS Krebs had to toss all five or Perpich’s petition sheets, not because any of the 66 voter signatures were bogus, but because Rep. Spencer Hawley practiced notarization without a license on the circulator’s verifications on each sheet.
Sure enough, check the notary database, and you won’t find anyone named Hawley currently authorized to administer oaths in South Dakota.
Perpich says the challenge alleges that Hawley’s notary seal expired in 2016. Perpich tells me that Hawley is as surprised as anyone by this accusation and is searching for paperwork to show that he did indeed file to maintain his notary status.
Now it’s funny that Secretary Krebs didn’t reject Perpich’s unnotarized petition until someone (and hey, would a nice guy like Republican nominee V.J. Smith do such a thing?) filed a challenge against the petition. ARSD 05:02:08:00.01 says the Secretary may not count any signature on a sheet on which the circulator’s verification is improperly completed, and ARSD 05:02:08:00(3) includes “The verification was completed and signed before an officer authorized to administer oaths” among the criteria for acceptance of any petition. In other words, if the Secretary of State’s office is following the rules tightly, it should be checking every notary stamp to make sure the stamper is in the notary database.
But as V.J. Smith and his Republican friends are likely saying, better late than never. Perpich, who herself in 2014 challenged Clayton Walker’s nominating petition and knocked him off the U.S. Senate ballot, now finds herself knocked off a ballot, apparently by a party member’s own error.
Brookings County Democrats have two weeks to collect at least fifty signatures to place Perpich or another willing candidate on the ballot as an independent. Any Democrat who signed Perpich’s petition can sign an independent Senate petition, since their signatures on Perpich’s Democratic petition are now deemed moot.
But if Brookings Democrats do field a District 7 Senate challenger, they’ll face a minor ironic challenge of their own. Run Perpich as an independent, and Brookings Dems will have to shout “Vote Indy!” in the Senate race while trying to dampen that same message in the House race, where independent Cory Ann Ellis is competing with Democrats Bill Adamson and Zachary Kovach and Republicans Doug Post and Rep. Tim Reed.
I have no intention of running as an Independent. I am a Democrat and remain loyal to that party. I do not switch parties arbitrarily to make a bid for public office easier. If I can’t run as a Democrat I will not run at all. The Brookings County Democrats will focus all their energy on electing Bill Adamson and Zach Kovach for the House in November.
Cory makes a good point about the Secretary of State’s failure to verify Spence Hawley’s notary credentials. It is her duty to check the licenses of all those notarizing petitions. If that had happened she would have had time to notify me of the problem and I would have had time to gather 50 signatures, have them notarized by someone with a valid license and turn them in before the March 27 deadline. Of course that assumes that the secretary takes a proactive approach to helping candidates. Looks like things have not changed in the SOS office since I challenged Clayton Walker’s petitions in 2014.
And, by the way, I was told by the SOS that the petition challenge came from the South Dakota Republican Party. Feel threatened?
Mary,
Why didn’t you check to make sure he could notarize? The only person to blame is yourself.
It seems like the blame should lie on Hawley, not Perpich, Jason. Also on Krebs and her employees for not checking the validity of the notary. I’m sure Power and the Pubs that are not Krebs supporters will make more of this than what it really is.
What it really is is that Democrats don’t have a District 7 Senate candidate, and a rookie Republican takes an open seat unopposed.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Krebs only “takes a proactive approach to helping candidates” when those candidates are republicans. It’s no surprise to me at all that said Secretary is a Trumpbot.
Well that sucks. It will be interesting if Hawley finds his paperwork and proof that he did indeed recertify.
I don’t blame the Republican Party for verifying petitions. Both parties should actively verify petitions.
The blame here rests squarely with Spencer Hawley. I’m sure he feels bad, and probably embarrassed. But the Secretary of State’s office sends out certificates suitable for framing when someone becomes a notary or renews their notary certification. The certificates have the notary’s expiration date on them. Rep. Hawley’s last certificate, if it expired in 2016, had the exact date on it that it expired. It’s his job to know when his notary seal expires and to make sure he renews it. If he had renewed it he would have gotten a new certificate with a new expiration date. There is no passing the buck on this one. At All.
Rules are rules. Ms. Perpich and Mr. Hawley must follow them as well, libbie sour grapes or entitlement mindset or not.
Grudz and I agree on something. The rules are there for a reason. The circulator verification is important, because the circulator is the first and really only line of defense against fraud. If it is improperly verified, then it can’t be sure that the circulator did his/her duty correctly. It may not have been done with bad intent, but it still is the rules.
We are like a hive brain, Mr. Pay, when it comes to rules and the environment.
This should be a big lesson learned for everyone that runs for office, but the truth is that things like this happen. Years ago, Tom Dempster missed the deadline to run as a Republican in Sioux Falls. He chose to run as an independent (note the lower “i”. There is no such thing as an “Independent” party; the designation in South Dakota serves to fit a multitude of “middle ground” and “fringe”, not “far enough left or right”, and everything in between.) Tom ran and won a seat once again in the State Senate. I served with him there; he chose to caucus with the Republicans. Tom worked on legislation such as universal preschool, and I found him to be a thoughtful moderate. I do understand Mary’s commitment to never running as anything but a Democrat, but I for one would never change my convictions whatever “label” someone places on me. Nor would she. Running for office is challenging, to say the least. It is a privilege as well, filled with paperwork, listening closely to your prospective constituents, working hard to find solutions to a myriad of challenging issues. You put yourself out there; and although I proudly say I’m a Democrat, when I ran… I ran as me, hoping that voters would place their trust in my abilities. The same can hold true here. This was a big mistake, and I feel for Spence Hawley. He is a fine man, and a wonderful legislator. He worked well with others, finding lots of middle ground. Solving issues. Things like this do happen, and we can all learn from them. I urge those that wish to run and serve to find a way to do it, file as an “independent” and remember that you are more than the party designation placed on any one person. And, anyone that supported you before, be they Democrats, or Republicans, or independents, should continue to do so and not look at this in any way of turning your back on your ideas or convictions.
Thanks Pam.
This makes my heart break. I could win that seat if allowed to run. And if an Independent does not step up before April 23, the inexperienced Republican candidate will waltz into that open seat without having to campaign or spend any money as Cory pointed out.
If the Republicans don’t have to spend time and effort defending District 7, they’ll have more time and money to spread around to defeat Democrats in other districts. That’s another good reason that Democrats should help Independents get on the ballot now in the few places where we Democrats don’t have candidates.