Johnson Wrongly Claims Record Number of Statewide Primary Candidates, Endangers Election Integrity with Guidance to Use Sample Ballots

It’s bad enough that Secretary of State Monae Johnson is delaying early voting by failing to deliver official ballots on time. Now she may be messing up voting by issuing bad legal advice.

Secretary of State Monae Johnson hasn’t had much to say her early-voting snafu. Yesterday she did issue a press release titled “Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson Explains South Dakota’s Primary Absentee Voting,” but the “facts” listed focus more on giving excuses for her late work than on explaining how absentee voting will work, and it gives no timeline for when county auditors can expect official ballots:

Facts regarding South Dakota’s primary absentee voting:

• The candidate petition filing deadline was the last Tuesday in March.
• In 2026, there were five Tuesdays in March which resulted in the deadline date being March 31.
• Current law allows candidates to send their petitions via registered mail if they are post marked by 5:00pm CT, March 31.
• Registered mail and petition challenges delay the finalization of ballots.
• After a petition is filed, there is a 5-business day petition challenge window.
• We had a record number of statewide candidate petitions filed (12 in all), which necessitated staff working during the Easter holiday, including on Easter Sunday.
• We have a federal ballot, which is new to South Dakota.
• City/School contests are now required to be on the Primary ballot (HB 1130).
• Absentee voting is to begin April 17.
• We provided guidance to the auditors early Wednesday, outlining the option for them to use sample ballots to accommodate absentee voting until they receive their ballots. The two statutes that apply are SDCL 12-19-3 and 12-16-17.

“I stand in support of our county auditors and the excellent work they do every day. There is no such thing as working 8-5 when it comes to elections and we should all be grateful for their dedication to the election process,” Secretary Johnson stated [Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson, press release, 2026.04.16].

One of those “facts” isn’t even a fact. 12 is not a record number of state candidate petitions filed. 14 partisan statewide candidates submitted petitions in 2014:

• Rick Weiland, Annette Bosworth, Stace Nelson, Jason Ravnsborg, Larry Rhoden, and Mike Rounds for U.S. Senate;
• Corinna Robinson, Kristi Noem, and Charles Haan for U.S. House;
• Joe Lowe, Susan Wismer, Lora Hubbel, Dennis Daugaard, and Curtis Strong for Governor

Two of those 2014 candidates, Haan and Strong, were Constitution Party candidates with much lower signature thresholds. Their petitions each contained only a couple hundred signatures, and each failed to include enough valid signatures to qualify.

In 2002, the Secretary of State dealt with 19 partisan candidates who qualified for the statewide statewide ballot: four Democrats and three Republicans for Governor, two Democrats and one Republican for U.S. Senate, and four Democrats and five Republicans for U.S. House.

Ability to count accurately is Job #1 for any election official. Secretary Johnson evidently struggles with counting candidates accurately.

Reading election law accurately is Job #2 for any election official. Secretary Johnson may be botching that job as well. Her apparent solution for the ballot delay—go ahead, she tells auditors, open early voting Friday with sample ballots—doesn’t square with the two statutes she cites.

SDCL 12-19-3 doesn’t mention taking early votes on sample ballots:

Upon receiving an application for absentee ballots, the person in charge of an election shall, within forty-eight hours, or if ballots are not then on hand, then within forty-eight hours after receipt of the ballots, after confirming from the master registration file that the applicant is registered as a voter pursuant to chapter 12-4, enclose one of each of the official ballots, a set of instructions on absentee balloting, and an unsealed return envelope. All of the enclosures shall be sealed in an envelope addressed to the applicant at the place stated in the application. If a registration form is received simultaneous with an absentee ballot request and prior to the registration deadline, the absentee ballot provided shall be based on the submitted registration form [SDCL 12-19-3, last amended 2007].

SDCL 12-16-17 mentions sample ballots but envisions their use at the precincts, on election day:

The county auditor shall provide official and sample ballots to each precinct in the county. The quantity provided for a primary election shall be at least ten percent more than the number of votes cast for the gubernatorial candidate of the respective parties in the preceding gubernatorial primary election. The quantity provided for a general election shall be at least ten percent more than the number of votes cast for all candidates for Governor as shown by the returns of the last preceding gubernatorial election. The county auditor shall also provide and retain in that office an ample supply of all official ballots, and if at any time before or during an election, an additional supply for any precinct shall be requested by the precinct superintendent, the county auditor shall immediately cause to be delivered, to the precinct superintendent, a supply of extra official ballots. If the supply of official ballots has been completely exhausted, the county auditor may make emergency substitution by delivering or authorizing the use of sample ballots or photocopies of the official ballot. The election board shall account for any sample ballots or photocopies authorized to be used [SDCL 12-16-17, last amended 1999].

Several county auditors are looking at the law and the Secretary’s guidance and choosing the law:

Codington County Auditor Brenda Hanten told local media on Wednesday that the county would begin early and absentee voting on time by using sample ballots as the county waits for official ballots, under the guidance of South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson.

Hanten walked back those plans on Thursday, telling South Dakota Searchlight she hadn’t yet discussed the plan with her state’s attorney when she made those comments. Codington County will not use sample ballots and will wait until official ballots are mailed.

…Hanten joined several other county auditors who told South Dakota Searchlight they are not following Johnson’s guidance. Auditors discussed the potential use of sample ballots earlier in the year when they were warning lawmakers about the expected delay in early voting. Auditors ultimately rejected the sample ballot option, Lincoln County Auditor Sheri Lund said, because South Dakota state law says sample ballots can be used “if the supply of official ballots has been completely exhausted.”

“We can’t run out of ballots if we haven’t even received them,” Lund said. She brought the issue to the Lincoln County state’s attorney, who agreed with her, she said.

…Auditors wouldn’t be able to track sample ballots the same way as official ballots, said Harding County Auditor Kathy Glines, and auditors would risk a judge ruling the practice illegal and throwing out sample ballots used for voting.

“We are absolutely not going to use sample ballots to vote. That’s an integrity issue,” Glines said.

“Which law do you want us to break?” Glines added. “The most important thing to us is to protect the ballot and protect the vote. If we start to use sample ballots, we lose that objective.”

Glines has been an auditor since 1991. She and eight other auditors started to provide their own advice and guidance to auditors throughout the state in recent years.

“We work together so we’re on the same page and not just hoping someone shows up on our behalf,” Glines said [Makenzie Huber, “‘Absolute Chaos’: State, Local Officials Disagree on Path Forward amid Delay in Early Voting,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.04.16].

If Secretary Johnson checked with a lawyer before telling auditors to use sample ballots, it wasn’t the state’s lawyers:

Spokesman Tony Mangan with the state Attorney General’s Office told South Dakota Searchlight the office was not consulted about the sample ballot law before the Secretary of State’s Office issued its guidance on the matter [Huber, 2026.04.16].

So we have Secretary Johnson saying, use sample ballots for early voting, but we have statute not clearly saying that’s o.k. and multiple auditors and state’s attorneys saying that’s not o.k.

Secretary Johnson’s false claim of a record number of statewide partisan candidates is literally trivial compared to what appears to be her incorrect guidance on sample ballots, which could result in spoiling the vote of thousands of South Dakotans. That single failing to protect the integrity of South Dakota elections should disqualify Johnson from her office.