Eric Mayer reports that Secretary of State Monae Johnson will keep not just the opening meeting but every meeting of her election integrity study group secret:
Three non-public meetings will be hosted by the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office this summer to further study the issue of post-election audits in South Dakota.
…Rachel Soulek with the secretary of state’s office told KELOLAND News there will be three meetings – June 21 (discussion), July 20 (draft) and August 22 (finalize).
Soulek called the meetings “an ad hoc study” and the office didn’t consider them public meetings.
“Anything our office brings forward will go through the State Board of Elections and would also have to go through the South Dakota Legislature which are open to the public,” Soulek said in an emailed statement [Eric Mayer, “Mixed Opinions on Secretary of State’s Study Group,” KELO-TV, 2023.06.15].
Study group member and Hand County Auditor Doug DeBoer parrots the excuse Secretary Johnson is giving for this secrecy, that people are afraid to speak their minds if the public is listening:
“Some of us do not know each other,” DeBoer told KELOLAND News. “Let’s say a disagreement takes place. If that disagreement takes place early in the meeting and then it’s resolved later in the meeting, which part of that is somebody going to take home and talk about?”
DeBoer said he looked at the group as a working group and compared them to meetings held by various associations of sheriffs, state’s attorneys and other organizations that have lobbying groups during the legislative session.
“While those meetings are generally open, they’re not advertised to the public to come watch,” DeBoer said. “In this case, the intent is to give us a forum where we could be free to speak how we really feel about an issue but still have the ability to talk with our constituents and gather ideas” [Mayer, 2023.06.15].
This secrecy sounds more like an excuse to let Secretary Johnson (who puts too much emphasis on the first six letters of her title) and her fellow election deniers spout nonsense without facing any accountability. Take a look at the folks Secretary Johnson picked for her secret group:
- Cindy Moeller, Pennington County Auditor
- Susan Kiepke, Davison County Auditor
- Doug DeBoer, Hand County Auditor
- Leah Anderson, Minnehaha County Auditor
- Lisa Schieffer, City of Summerset Finance Officer
- Twila Hoffrogge, City of Pierre Finance Officer
- Travis Lasseter, Pennington County Commissioner
- Jim Eschenbaum, Hand County Commissioner
- Rep. Rebecca Reimer (R-27/Chamberlain)
- Rep. Sue Peterson (R-13/Sioux Falls)
- Rep. Kameron Nelson (R-10/Sioux Falls)
- Mike Buckingham, Board of Elections
- Gloria Hanson, Fort Pierre Mayor
- Deb Halverson, Former Lyman County Auditor
- Vicky Buhr, Sioux Falls citizen
The only non-public official Johnson picks is Vicky Buhr, a right-wing activist from Sioux Falls who has participated in the radical election-deniers group South Dakota Canvassing. That group’s fellow traveler Leah Anderson is now Minnehaha County’s dangerously anti-democratic auditor and is also one of Johnson’s picks to draft election integrity legislation in secret. Among Rep. Sue Peterson’s multiple expressions of right-wingnuttery was her signing of an SD Canvassing-motivated letter pushing bogus concerns about election integrity last summer. Commissioner Travis Lasseter co-hosted a 2021 event in Rapid City pushing insurrectionism. Johnson seems to be bolstering her own nuttiness with allies who can make her election-denialism sound like commonly held and valid beliefs. Hosting their meetings behind closed doors will allow them to spew all sorts of nonsense without journalists and the public pointing out the gross flaws in the fantasies they may enunciate about election fraud to justify whatever radical legislation they draft.
We can only hope that when this secret committee’s draft legislation comes out and the Board of Elections and the public ask, “What the heck were you thinking?” some more sensible members of the study group will say, “Well, Monae and Vicky and Leah told us that…” and we can properly refute their nonsense and shoot down their bad proposals.
Related Rationality: Perhaps on the good side, Secretary Johnson has picked Jennifer Morrell, a private elections consultant whom Johnson hired to provide some audit training in May, to moderate her secret panel’s meetings. We can thus count on Morrell to tell Johnson to drop her radically bad idea of hand-counting all ballots:
Moving back toward hand-counting ballots would also significantly increase costs for local election offices that are perennially under-resourced, says Jennifer Morrell, an elections consultant and former local voting administrator.
The staff size at almost every election office across the country would need to exponentially increase, and even then, hand-counting dozens of races on tens of millions of ballots would probably take weeks or months.
Considering many of the Republicans who are calling for hand counts are the same people who cast doubt on the 2020 election because results weren’t finalized on election night, Morrell says it shows they haven’t done their research.
“I just think they don’t understand what that looks like and how much time that takes and what the process is to do it accurately and correctly,” Morrell said. “Or they wouldn’t be calling for that” [Miles Parks, “Hand-Counting Ballots May Sound Nice. It’s Actually Less Accurate and More Expensive,” NPR, 2022.10.07].
In order to be sworn in, it is necessary to hold democracy and the constitution as sacred and above all other personal beliefs. There cannot be Knights for the Old Testament crusading for their own Godly cause while forsaking the voters’ will. They always find a way to justify cheating, lying, and even murder to win their sanctimonious war. They are dangerous to our country.
Isn’t it illegal to hold non-public meetings? How does she think anything that comes out of her little rump group is going to be accepted by anyone with a integrity and a brain? If they can’t do their work in public that work isn’t going to be worth the toilet paper that wipes up the detritus hanging from their anal hairs.
Demanding that all ballots be counted on the night of the election is akin to demanding that the IRS complete your tax return on the day they receive it. C’mon, Monae!!
I trust the United State Government. Nothing unordinary that has ever happened hasn’t or won’t be exposed.
What could be more crooked than hand counting? Even if it is done with integrity it will not be as accurate as machine counting.
Five of us counted a bucket of coin from a broken pay phone (remember them?) and all came out with different numbers.
When the bank counts money with a machine we trust it. That said, when the bank’s machine counts it you can recount it. Election ballots are not allowed to be recounted by hand without a recount or judges order. That should change.
Minnesota had an issue where folks counting by hand used graphite hidden under their fingernails to mark paper ballots with “identifying marks” disqualifying ballots they didn’t like.
Secret meetings to “aid” election counting should be criminal.
I was on a committee (appointed by Gov. George Mickelson) dealing with discussing and proposing legislation regarding mining regulation. Similar to this study group, it was by legislative statute. Also, similar to this study group, there was no exception provided for following state laws on how this group should operate. All our meetings were required to be open, and none of us would have wanted to conduct important state business behind closed doors. Similar to this committee, all our recommendations went to a state board and/or to the SD Legislature, but that was NOT A REASON to have secret rump sessions, as tyrant Monae Johnson proposes.. Our committee had lively and sometimes contentious discussions and votes on various proposals, but everything was done where the public and the press could observe. I see no reason for this study group to be closed to the public. In fact, it is illegal under South Dakota state law. Tyrant Monae Johnson should be sued.
Are Monae Johnson and Doug DeBore just that stupid or that corrupt? Secret meetings to change public policy that directly affects elections is a rotten idea. Trade secrets? Nope. Personnel issues? Nope. Legal strategy? Nope.
This looks like a political campaign strategy group to change election laws and policies outside of any public input until the meetings are done and it’s too late.
These people are grifters — and not very good ones at that — and the public is being played for suckers.
Ah, South Dakota. Firmly rooted in the twentieth century and fondly looking backwards.
If the meetings are to discuss confidential and private information of which the “State” is sworn to protect, the meetings can legally be kept behind the doors, much like “executive meetings”. Administration Meetings cover can do within the halls of the Secretary of State’s Office. The office under S.D.C.L has administrative powers to conduct meetings within the Department for:
Administrative function” means any management function to include planning, developing, and implementing programs; organizing the internal structure of a department or agency; selecting, appointing, promoting, removing, and managing personnel; directing, administering, reviewing, and coordinating activities and programs assigned to a department, agency, or organizational subunit; reporting; and budgeting and expending funds, including, unless excepted, special budgetary functions;
Advisory function” means furnishing advice, gathering information, and making recommendations;
Quasi-judicial function” means an adjudicatory function exercised by an agency, involving the exercise of judgment and discretion in making determinations in controversies. The term includes the functions of interpreting, applying, and enforcing existing rules and laws; granting or denying privileges, rights, or benefits; issuing, suspending, or revoking licenses, permits and certificates; determining rights and interests of adverse parties; evaluating and passing on facts; awarding compensation; fixing prices; ordering action or abatement of action; holding hearings; adopting procedural rules or performing any other act necessary to effect the performance of a quasi-judicial function;
if in fact this is a “Administrative” right of the the Secretary of State’s office to conduct administrative hearings within the department in order to review, audit, and determining the facts of such controversies, ‘we’ are then discussing a Quasi-Judicial Function of the “department” itself.
The “Members” of this Quasi-Judicial Commission held under, and by the authority of the Secretary, has the right to keep these meetings private as they further discuss confidential matters related to the over all “election” laws of the State, which could be of substance meaning related to Domiciles, Residency Requirements, the Master Voter File Database, let alone to sit down to review the facts, and the laws pertaining to such.
This appears to be more of “review commission” established by the Secretary of State to gather data, information, facts, and opinions of the South Dakota county-by-county statewide election governing process.
If I am correct, under S.D.C.L 1-32-1 Monae Johnson is simply conducting a “Administration Information Review, Data, and Study” responsibility of her office, of which the committee is made up of several county auditors, persons, and citizens of the “State” itself.
It is nothing more than facts finding committee, in order to provide back to the people, at a later date, their findings, and to provide their assessment of the Statewide Election System, providing to the people their Opinions of such, while providing to the people their Recommendation for any such changes to be made.
They have no other power to do anything beyond that, but these “administrative meetings” can be done behind closed doors where they may be discussing confidential matters of the “State” where they could be reviewing private names, addresses, contact information, data collection.
If the SOS was a Democrat the SDGOP would be having a cow.
A meeting with a mission.
To do what?
Fix our elections?
End one Party rule?
Steal our money?
Also, just because something is “legal”, doesn’t make it right.
Good thing “ZIT” comes along and tells South Duhkotans to move along, nothing to see here. No idea how you got along without him all yer lives.
The Democrats should have done this long ago. Enough Said.
I have written a better report on what is really being discussed, all of which will will be placed a a report, published at a later date, ahead of the 2024 Legislative Session
If you want more details, send an email to zitterich76@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Mike Z., this ain’t internal. Internal would be paid staff. These people outside the department who are appointed under legislative directive. That legislative directive did not exempt Tyrant Monae from state laws on public meetings. Any closure of a part of a meeting must be stated and a valid reason given in public. I can understand she might be concerned with the nutcases out their who think there are reasons to distrust the election system, If that or anything else similar is of concern, she can request that security be present. By the way, all that information she gathers in this study group are public records and must be open to the public to view and copy.
Mike Z, I was on a “review commission,” formed exactly as this one was. We were required to follow open meetings and records laws. Stop trying to fake up excuses for Tyrant Monae. She needs to be sued, and this meeting opened up to the public. What is wrong with you?
More Trump-nutz, like Monea are NOT patriots. Aggressive Republican political activities rise to treason, per investigative journalist Victoria Brownbox:
@VABVOX
This is the story of all the CIA assets dying in a parallel to when Trump was showing classified documents to people with no clearance at Mar-a-Lago. twttr
[Of] informants that were arrested or killed, it said the number turned against the United States was not fully known. Sometimes, informants who are discovered by adversarial intelligence services are not arrested, but instead are turned into double agents who feed disinformation to the C.I.A., which can have devastating effects on intelligence collection and analysis. (no pay wall)
phttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/cia-informants-killed-captured.html?unlocked_article_code=eqcF_ISs2K-l8pzUNCLrITV-7p-dKvsYraB85L6u6NEfikf973kIJoyPq5-IS7x1_r2kNFoRkIZiVWNfC9m06J_JTR0n2d4nzzo_7g-rSmrna_z3D_srReNzCF6v34qyvrlUfB156xqGGXtRkLIp7xZaSKur8vzYyn0TlqmoK1ZSb7nCS66HjCZmPyPgGWBR1IExUwnJNDqWkpFInDk4b-_2RRym7ZA83-2J9GJXyCxpo7VfpOSfQjyVpUwPg6RLMlaNL1Knx7Oy-J7c7kuxUg3Pc7wn_SbCBBRrgfnv4J15-YbvIZJ1p4SSMeTAQonclPhorBrwjl_ShTr1MdhyDplqvaTjQSbuTG9z_Q&smid=tw-share
We are going to be investigating and repairing political damage done, at great cost, for the next decade or more. Republican clutch for power has become the scourge of the nation. Electing incompetent and ideologue officials like Monae, is Republican SOP.
Trump’s White House asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to provide it with a list of top American spies at a time when President Donald Trump is looking to install a loyalist as his new intelligence chief. https://www.salon.com/2019/08/03/trumps-white-house-issues-an-ominous-request-for-a-list-of-top-u-s-spies_partner/
They did this through out state and federal government.
I would suggest that the interested public show up and demand to be allowed in. If necessary create a fuss. The better plan is for citizens to obtain a restraining order. Where the hell is that AG of yours? He seems to be worthless. A real AG would not allow anything like Tyrant Monae to pull an illegal stunt like this.
After reading further about the law passed by the Legislature, the way it was written Tyrant Monae is supposed to use normal rulemaking through the Board of Elections to address the audit issue. Normal rulemaking procedures are open to the public. This rump group is NOT authorized under state law, and violates all sorts of . She will be spending taxpayer money to form this rump group and pay it with taxpayer money without an appropriation even though an authorized method of collecting information exists through rulemaking procedures. Conservatives should be screaming from the rafters over Tyrant Monae’s efforts to break all sorts of laws and waste taxpayers’ money.
She could use the normal rulemaking procedures, as the Legislature directed. She has to use rulemaking anyway, why not just be open and honest from the get-go?
On further reflection I probably meant halving a cow.
I wonder if the group is not authorized under state law if then it is but an informal gathering and not subject to any open meetings provisions. Much like if Ms. Monae were to happen upon one of these fellows in the hall and have a discussion. Or invite them to her office for a private meeting. Is it, after all, a private meeting? grudznick only wonders, as usually Ms. Monae seems inept and manipulated by those insaner than most.
This morning, at the Conservatives with Common Sense breakfasting, we will be having a meeting with 3 different topics, in which we will discuss the ways in which a group of elected offices might gather informally and make plans to:
– Fix our elections (good or unnecessary: is this needed or not needed?)
– End one Party rule (is this very bad or just a little bit bad?)
– Steal our money (in what ways might these elected offices steal our money and what do we do to them for each?)
grudznick expects a lively set of discussions. Good thing this week we are at a buffet.
Three Republican legislators and no Democrats.
Go figure!
Is the young fellow, Mr. Nelson, not only a Democratic fellow but also the first openly gay in the legislatures? Ms. Monae can be accused of much, but not being a little bit inclusive is not one of the things. In this case.
Grudz has a point about whether this rump group has to follow state laws on open meetings if the Legislature didn’t authorize it. I would say yes, because they admit they are engaging in rulemaking by another name, as described by Tyrant Monae: “.Rachel Soulek with the secretary of state’s office told KELOLAND News there will be three meetings – June 21 (discussion), July 20 (draft) and August 22 (finalize).” That is the perfect definition of rulemaking. They are pre-cooking the rules that are going to be presented to the Board. The word “finalize” really is the key here. This rump group is seen as the rulemaking body, not the Board of Elections.
There were several of these efforts done on rules and legislation on mining in the late 80s and early 90s. I have no problem with gathering information, listening to various opinions, etc., etc., before you propose rules and legislation, but it should be done openly and honestly, not hidden away from the public.
grudznick agrees with Mr. Pay about Ms. Monae having a rump group, mostly hidden from the public.
Mrs. Johnson believes too many of the” wrong people are voting ” and this is some how caused by an enormous conspiracy operating at the polls in South Dakota. Of course, this is total nonsense that nearly any South Dakotan would immediately reject as being way outside their experience. If she wants to curtail voting by the transient RVers most South Dakotans might agree though they would also agree that these folks should be able to vote “somewhere”. If she and her rump committee succeed in banning vote by mail, early voting, and drop boxes, they will just be disenfranchising elderly and disabled voters, of whom there are many in South Dakota. Irony is most of those folks consistently vote Republican.
Ok closed private meetings use vacation days, pay your own mileage and per diem for food and lodging. No access to government computer systems or the LRC. What have I missed? Morning coffee with donuts, no cookies for snacks and rent your own conference room along with all audiovisual devices necessary. Anything else?
Francis
Rump groups don’t get donuts under state rules, I would expect. Bring your own, or better yet hold the meeting in the back room at a Perkins and order off the menu. Small coffee cups, but make them keep bringing the bottomless juice.
No donuts for Rump Groups.
Grudz’s questions:
– Fix our elections (good or unnecessary: is this needed or not needed?)
Unnecessary, but doing a few selective audits after each election is a good idea.
– End one Party rule (is this very bad or just a little bit bad?)
It’s very bad. The best government I remember in South Dakota was when Dems had one house in the Legislature during Mickelson’s
terms, He up-ed his game, and so did the Legislature up-ed their game.
– Steal our money (in what ways might these elected offices steal our money and what do we do to them for each?)
I’m not that concerned if they hold meetings, but make them public. If citizens buy a candy bar, they are paying sales tax to pay for
Moenae’s meeting. In that case, it should be open to that candy eating citizen. The same goes for a gravy-soaked breakfast.