Hey, you three Sioux Falls Democrats who forgot to vote—this one’s on you!
In Tuesday’s runoff election for Sioux Falls mayor, Republican Christine Erickson got two more votes than Democrat Jamie Smith. You can bet there will be a recount.
Concerns from officials about voter fatigue did not appear to play out. 38,733 Sioux Fallsians cast votes in the regular mayoral election on June 2 that winnowed the field from five candidates to two. Erickson and Smith split a combined 36,558 votes in Tuesday’s runoff, a 5.6% decline from the June 2 mayoral voter turnout. That’s a lot lower than the big double-digit-precentage declines we usually see in Congressional runoff elections. Unlike the primary, this runoff wasn’t combined with any marquee primaries for Governor or Legislature, so a a municipal runoff drawing 94.4% as much voter participation on its own as the initial vote three weeks ago suggests forcing cities to hold their elections on the same day as statewide primaries or generals doesn’t guarantee big increases in voter turnout. Overall turnout in Sioux Falls dropped from 25.5% to 24.1%, indicating the problem is less voter fatigue and more voter disinterest.
The city posts Erickson’s and Smith’s percentages as 49.91%, as they are counting based on the total of 36,633 ballots received, which evidently includes 65 ballots that left the mayor line blank, illegally wrote in another name, or otherwise fouled their mayoral vote. The actual percentages are 50.003% for Erickson and 49.997% for Smith.
Smith gobbled up a lot more the also-rans votes than did Erickson. On June 2, Erickson won 37.3% of the vote, followed by Smith at 28.3%. Erickson won 3,873 more votes in the runoff than in the primary, an increase of 26.9%. Smith won 7,319 more votes, a primary-to-runoff boost of 66.8%. If we assume that the 5.6% turnout decline was equal among supporters of each of the five candidates in the June 2 election, then Tuesday’s results suggest that Smith won 63% of voters who preferred Greg Jamison, Joe Batcheller, or David Zokaites but were willing to show up for their second choice this week.
The city provides this summary of the official vote canvass and likely recount:
The Sioux Falls City Council will now convene as the official election canvass board to declare the official results for this election at a special meeting on Friday, June 26, 2026, at 8 a.m. at Carnegie Town Hall, 235 W. 10th St. Following the official canvass of the election, certificates of election will be issued to the candidates who have been declared the winner by the official canvass.
Due to the unprecedented two-vote margin of victory in the mayoral runoff, a petition for a recount is likely to occur for that office. Once such a petition is filed, the law requires a recount board to be appointed to conduct the recount process as expeditiously as reasonably possible until completed. The recount board would consist of one person chosen by each candidate then a third member would be chosen by mutual agreement of both candidates. Once the recount board has completed their work, they will submit a certification of their recount result to the official canvass board. If the results of the election change, then a new certificate of election would be issued to the mayoral candidate who is declared the winner. By law, Mayor Paul TenHaken will continue serving as mayor until a successor has been duly elected and taken office [City of Sioux Falls, “2026 Runoff Election Update, Next Steps,” 2026.06.24].
Three counters, 36,633 ballots, and a two-vote margin to test: how would you like to be on that recount board?