When Secretary of State Shantel Krebs rejected Democratic candidate Mary Perpich’s nominating petition for District 7 Senate due to Rep. Spencer Hawley’s invalid notary seal, I got to wondering: Dang, how many other documents has Hawley notarized since 2016 that now might be invalid?
Independent candidate for District 7 House Cory Ann Ellis got to wondering the same thing. She asked the Secretary of State to send her copies of the nominating petitions submitted by Zachary Kovach and Dwight “Bill” Adamson, her Democratic opponents in the five-way House race. Here’s what Ellis found:
Kovach submitted five petition sheets with (by my quick count of filled lines but no checking of voter registration or completeness of information) 61 signatures. Kovach circulated all five sheets. On all five sheets, Kovach swore his circulator’s oath under the notary seal of Spencer Hawley.
Adamson submitted eight petition sheets with apparently 124 signatures. Hawley provided the notary seal for the circulator’s oath on two sheets and for the circulator’s oath and the declaration of candidacy on two more sheets.
Note that Spencer Hawley’s notary seal includes the expiration date of his commission, 7-22-2022, which suggests that the Secretary of State issued his commission on July 22, 2016, and that Hawley was sure enough that said commission had been issued that he ordered that expiration date etched in the rubber of his stamp.
But Hawley’s name still isn’t in the notary database. Hawley’s apparent lack of notary status was the reason Secretary Krebs booted Perpich’s petition. It would be the reason Secretary Krebs would boot all five of Kovach’s petition sheets and four of Adamson’s eight petition sheets.
Right there, that would mean Kovach doesn’t make the ballot.
But what about Adamson’s four remaining, non-Hawleyized sheets? Those sheets contain 64 signatures. But check out the notary seal on the circulator’s oath on two of those sheets:
Stephanie Svennes (yup, she’s legit, checks out in the database) notarized both the declaration of candidacy and circulator’s oath for Adamson on his fifth and sixth sheet. Her seals on each circulator’s oath do not include her “commission expires” date. Petition rules (ARSD 05:02:08:00.01) say that if the “circulator’s verification is not completed or is improperly completed,” the signatures on that sheet can’t be counted. One could argue that Svennes’s “commission expires” date is on both of those sheets of paper, on the other side, so arguably all the necessary information is on each sheet of paper, but a strict reading can support the argument that those two sheets shouldn’t count either, leaving Adamson with 27 countable signatures.
Legislative candidates need 50 signatures to make the ballot.
Dang somebody! Dang it, dang it, dang it!
Now the funny thing is, the Secretary of State can’t act on these apparent errors herself. She couldn’t throw out Mary Perpich’s petition until some Republican filed a challenge pointing out Hawley’s non-notariety. She can’t throw out Kovach’s petition or the first half of Adamson’s petition (and think about throwing out rest of Adamson’s) until someone files challenges to those petitions. And since more than five business days have passed since the Secretary certified Kovach’s and Adamson’s petitions, any challenger will have to take these facts to court and get a judge to order the petitions rejected.
Ellis says she has not decided whether she will pursue a challenge. And who knows—maybe Republicans seeing this information will leap at the chance to knock out the rest of the District 7 slate so they can focus all of their fire on single solitary independent candidate Ellis.
But if someone does file a challenge, the District 7 Democratic ticket is quite likely toast. Maybe some enterprising Democratic lawyer has a brilliant argument up her sleeve to save these candidacies, but rather than waiting for that magic, District 7 Democrats should resort to Plan B right now: take out three independent petitions, one for Senate and two for House, and get Perpich, Kovach, and Adamson or three other willing campaigners on the ballot for those offices as independents!
And even if you don’t have a political bone in your body note, if you’ve had a contract notarized in Brookings since July 2016, you might want to check the notary seal. If you see Spencer Hawley’s name, you might not have a legally binding document.
Shame on Mr. Hawley for leaving these people to dangle in the toasty wind. When he was a Game Commissioner he was a more thorough fellow.
Gee, SD Democrats just can never, by the grace of god, ever ever catch a break. Maybe theyshould just crawl in a hole. Year after year it never gets any better under the one party ruling system. Do my fellow democrats ever get depressed?I sure would living under such a regime. But please don’t listen to me, keep fighting! Don’t ever lay down your swords!
Ms. Jenny, it is really quite simple. Follow the rules. Whining “whoa is us” is no excuse for not following the rules. Mr. H would never cut any conservative such slack. None of us, even you, should cut Mr. Hawley such slack. Follow the rules, Mr. Hawley, and hold everybody to those same rules. We all knew them going in, crying now that you didn’t brings no sympathy from the letters of the laws, especially when you’ve been a writer of those law bills for the last 8 years.
PS: I mean to add that I make the above statement as the Annointed Candidate from the Libertarian Party for Governor, not as a Past President of the Conservatives with Common Sense. Most of you knew I was a PPCWCS, but you can read about me becoming the ACLPG over at Mr. PP’s blogging site.
As stated in various ways by multiple commenters in the comment section under the Perpich/Hawley post, rules are rules. I guess we petitioners now need to check not only our signers for voter registration but our sealers for notary commissions. Check everything!
Cory is that a pretty standard rule about the SOS not being able to throw out a petition. Is it because Krebs has already validated it? Please help me out here. Thanks
Yeah, it’s messed up, Jenny. The Secretary can throw out a petition, but only on her first review. As we learned during the Bosworth petition challenge and trial, that review is limited to facial completeness of petitions. The Secretary looks no further than the petition itself and the registered voter database. Statute and rule on petitions don’t authorize the Secretary to play notary cop, even though the Secretary is the keeper of the notary roster. Once the Secretary counts 50 good signatures on a District 7 petition, she stamps Certified on it, and her work is done. The Secretary can’t read this blog (and you know someone in the office does) or get some other wild hair and say, “Gee, I should go look at that petition again and see if I should reverse my decision.” The Secretary only does that in response to a formal challenge, and even then only in response to the deficiencies identified in that challenge.
Are you looking for a LG, grudz? Call me.
Well Cory, Terry LaFleur claims he was told by SOS office that he didn’t make the ballot because of a strange notary date as well which must have been determined solely by the SOS office.
Are you aware of anyone that actually challenged his petitions?
Mr. Rorschach, I have been thinking about who I want to preside over the senate, and more importantly carry on my reasonable nature if something should happen to me (death, from old age and disease) that prevents me from fulfilling my duties as Governor.
You and I don’t always agree, and that is OK. But you have a strong sense of fairness, and seem to have a bit of the bloggishness in you that I don’t have. And as Mr. H can probably attest, future Governors are going to need some bloggishness.
You are likely one of my top picks. Plus, your sanity will offset some of the insanerness that is going to have to be part of our campaign.
But, do not waver here, when I tell you to vote aye or nay on a given issue if there is a tie in the senate, your vote is mine, not yours. This is how it works. Ties go to grudznick. Governor grudznick. The Libertarian. *cheers rock the building, mobs thrust at the doors of the capitol who could not fit inside, and the capitol police cower in fear of my new Chief of Security, Mr. C.*
Cory,
Scratch my last reply. It sounds like Terry’s notary’s terrible mistakes, Krebs should have been able to throw out.
Ms. Stacey, if I recall you are not a hideous looking woman, only philosophically challenged. The new grudznick administration might be able to use your. Submit (the same) paperwork that Mr. Rorschach already submitted, and everything from receptionist to party planner to Secretary of IT is at your doorstep.
Indeed, Stacy: it sounds like LaFleur’s notary errors were “facial”—i.e., the SOS was able to look at the petition sheet itself and see that something was not right. Statute and rule direct the SOS to look for such errors on the page; statute and rule do not authorize the Secretary to go look for information that is not on the page, like the status of the notary. Apparently the only “non-facial” information the SOS can seek on her own initiative is the voter registration of signers.
Using the registered voter list ought to be discontinued. That list is incredibly flawed, and using it results in people’s signatures being unconstitutionality struck.
Grudz I will gleefully vote no on the state nosh if Sen. Nelson can ever pull a tie out of the senate. He’ll wish he had come out of the bathroom to vote.
@Comic book character “Rorschach”
3 bills passed into law this year, another vetoed by our lame RINO. Two out of six bills on SDRTL 2017-2018 report were bills I primary sponsored. 9th most successful legislator in getting bills passed in 2017. Chislic is now the official state nosh. You keep plaintively telling yourself that it’s Nelson that’s hiding and not making an impact, anonymous little fella who history shall ignore.. 🤣
Me? I’m unprimaried rolling into a general election I won last time with 78.2% of the vote after the governor and every establishment RINO did their best to slime and black list me.
An unprimaried Nelson with so many RINOs primaried… delicious..🤣
I have learned over the years, whenever I do business with the State – I always use certified mail – AND follow up to find whatever on-line information changes might be available CONFIRM any changes (licensure, residence, etc.). 2 or 3 “misplaced” forms/correspondences taught me this years ago.
I agree, Stace. Rohr that was a mean thing to say. The boys are always trying to get you riled up Stace. Just remember, it’s entertainment for them.
Urging all District 7 Candidates that filed as Dems/with Spence notarizing to prepare secondary independent petitions… That’s what I would do, and you should if you want to run. This series of Unfortunate Events 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.
I agree and commend your statements, Pam. Vote for the person, not the party.
@Jenny we always knew we were doing a good job when we saw such ugly comments in the terrorist chatter. 🤣 Water off a big Bull elephant’s big butt! I LOVE to see them gnashing their teeth! 😁
Key last line in Pamela’s statements: voters should consider the candidates’ values, skills, and policies ahead of party label. District 7 deserves a full contest in both the Senate and House races. Public servants can still give District 7 those deserved contests by filing as independent candidates.
OK, Senator Nelson brought up his record to brag about it, so let’s look at that. Once again he took the shotgun approach to legislating. Far and away, Sen. Nelson has the record for bills sent to the 41st day. That means bills killed. He had 23 bills killed this year alone, and that’s not even counting resolutions he had killed. Just to remind everyone, Sen. Nelson is a Republican in a legislature that is over 80% Republican in a state with a Republican governor. Nobody else in either party had as many of their bills killed as he did. Putting your name on a bill, Sen. Nelson, appears to be the kiss of death – except for inconsequential stuff like the state nosh – chislic. That’s a lousy record no matter what spin you try to put on it. Holy cow! 23 bills and half a dozen resolutions killed! The lambs are crying.
So, Rohr, so? That means he’s trying and making an honest effort. Why don’t you run for State Senate and we can see how you would do. I have a feeling you would be an obnoxious Bill Janklow/Donald Trump kind of bullying politician.
You mean like Sen. Nelson, Jenny? Not my style.
Want a real distraction? Compare Stace’s bill-passage rate to Spence’s.
Neither is relevant to the question of whether Brookings Dems are going to hurry up and engage in Plan B or not. I don’t know if Ellis has filed a formal challenge or not, but what do you think the chances are that the SDGOP will?
Interesting. Very unfortunate, but if the rules were broken, then you have to disqualify if it is challenged. Actually, the Independent label might be a plus over obtaining the ballot illegitimately, if there isn’t a challenge. I would be tempted, if I were a candidate, to challenge my own petition. Honesty is the best policy. You can always go the independent route. Better to do it right, admit the problems and go forward.
I have a question. I am a notary is South Dakota. I have a letter signed by the SD Secretary of State stating so. Does Hawley have one of these? Could there have been an error in omitted his name from the database? I don’t believe I’ve ever had to put myself on any database, so this must be done in the Sec. of State’s office.
Kate, you’re correct that the entry of your name in the notary database happened in the SOS office. I checked with the SOS: they commissioned Hawley as a notary on July 22, 2004 and again on July 22, 2010. They ahve no record of Hawley reupping his notary status on his last expiration date of July 22, 2016.
If Hawley has one of those letters certifying his notary status in 2016, something went seriously wrong in the SOS office. But I think it would take less than one full business week for a notary to find a document as important as the letter certifying his notary status.