The Legislature’s Rules Review Committee yesterday approved a raft of mostly trivial rules changes proposed by the state Board of Elections. The sole nay to those changes came from Representative Jon Hansen (R-25/Dell Rapids), who expressed his concern that Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson doesn’t know what the heck she is doing:
Hansen also wants the security procedures for ballot tabulators better proscribed in rule and wanted to know more about KNOWiNK, a St. Louis, Missouri, company that bought BPro. The secretary of state contracts with the formerly South Dakota-based company for some voter-registration and elections technology.
[Deputy Secretary of State Tom] Deadrick indicated he didn’t know much about the company and acknowledged that the secretary of state’s staff lacks expertise in election technology.
“The fact that we don’t even know who these people are just concerns me a little bit,” Hansen said about KNOWiNK. He added, “Even the head of our elections doesn’t fully understand how this stuff works” [Bob Mercer, “SD Legislators Green-Light Changes to Election Rules,” KELO-TV, 2023.07.19].
Monae Johnson appealed to election deniers and conpiracy-ationists with her promises to fight for “election integrity“. But now, according not to this liberal blogger but to one of the most dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republicans in the Legislature, she’s running elections and doesn’t even understand the technology that her fellow travelers say are being rigged to thwart their will.
The Republican Party has a 46 year long vice-grip hold on the governorship, super majorities in the legislature and ownership of every statewide elected office. Who do they think South Dakota elections are being stolen from?
Nick, i think perhaps you give them too much credit with your suggestion that they are thinking at all. Fools, each.
It’s like all their periodic caterwauling over K-12 education. Republicave have been in charge for nearly half a century. They whine, they sputter, but they never take responsibility.
Oh, the irony! Jon Hansen being able to tell someone accurately that they don’t understand something.
Johnson is a magat for Pete’s sake. You seriously expected her to know anything about her job?
It boggles my iowa educated brain that normal humans expect magats to act normal. Magats live in an alternate universe detached from reality.
The title of the story should read:
Hansen: Monae Johnson Doesn’t Want to Understand How Election Technology Works
Bring back Lorna Herseth or someone like her.
The biggest problem that “conservatives” in general have with society and other things, is that they DO NOT KNOW HOW THEY WORK. And so, rather to admit their own ignorance to themselves, they get angry at the thing(s) they don’t know about. Projecting guilt, or shame or fear or whatever other emotion it is they don’t want to take responsibility for (what triggers them) onto an unknown is the safest path to avoid having further negative feelings about their own behavior for avoiding personal responsibility.
“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives…” John Stuart Mill
British philosopher, economist, and liberal member of Parliament for Westminster from 1865 to 1868.
The above is just a partial quote; he clarifies his statement with another 145 words. He also had the most astonishingly bad hair.
An interesting quote, Ms. Fairbank.
For what it is worth, grudznick is considered dimwitted and a conservative, so perhaps it is a true quote. Also, grudznick is a fan of astonishingly bad coifs. Big fan.
Mr. Schriever—couldn’t agree more…recently an arch Trump Conservative woman, running on a typical Conservative platform was elected to the House of Representatives in Wisconsin where we have a lake home in a small town. After serving her first year, she reported to her constituents, “Boy, I never knew how complicated things were in Madison. It gets really complicated after a bill is written and you get it submitted to the floor. You wouldn’t believe all the hoops you have to jump through.”
Yep, They sure make things complicated. I think it’s called deliberation, something Conservatives have forgotten about, if they ever understood the term.
We told them! They wouldn’t listen!