Monae Johnson Changes Mind, Decides It’s Safe to Publicly Discuss Post-Election Audits

In a welcome about-face, Secretary of State Monae Johnson opened the second meeting of her post-election audit chat group to the public:

The advisory committee that Secretary of State Monae Johnson put together to come up with procedures for conducting post-elections audits in South Dakota met in public Thursday.

That was a switch from last month, when the panel held its first meeting in private. “It was more of a work group,” Johnson said afterward Thursday.

The audits will be conducted for the first time after the 2024 elections. At least one more meeting is planned. Johnson said it will be public too.

Asked the reason for opening it up, Johnson said, “Because we’re at the point where people felt confident in what they had to say” [Bob Mercer, “Post-Election Audit Committee Holds Meeting in Public,” KELO-TV, 2023.07.20].

Hand County Auditor and committee member Doug DeBoer wasn’t feeling so confident last month; he fretted that he didn’t know the committee members well enough to feel comfortable raising issues that might spark disagreement. Evidently Secretary Johnson must dedicated the first meeting, the secret one, to some super-duper icebreaking games.

This newfound collegial confidence appears not to have prompted any passionate or interesting disagreements. Mercer reports that the committee seems content to work within the parameters of Senate Bill 160, passed this year to establish post-election audits, and wait until after the 2024 general election to propose any changes.