Republicans are torching democracy, and they keep nominating incompetents for Secretary of State who would help burn our ballots. Libertarian Secretary of State candidate Tamara Lesnar says she smells that fire:
Asked why she got into the race, Lesnar said, “I’ve been noticing that our democracy has been under attack and this has been happening for several decades and it’s time that somebody actually stands up to the government and protects the people’s rights” [Bob Mercer, “Secretary of State Election Draws Three Candidates,” KELO-TV, 2026.09.17].
Libertarian Lesnar makes clear that Republican nominee Heather Baxter’s support for throwing out our current vote-counting tech and instead counting ballots by hand is a recipe for worse elections:
Lesnar, the Libertarian candidate, said she has total faith in the technology used to count votes.
“I don’t believe that hand counting should be used for the complete election. Hand counting should be used when a machine can’t tabulate a vote, or it should be used when there is a recount. But other than that, there is more human error with hand counting than there would be with machine tabulation,” Lesnar said [Mercer, 2026.09.17].
Lesnar also says current SOS Monae Johnson is bad at her job:
Lesnar’s no fan either of how Johnson has run the office.
“I think it’s been an office of incompetency and especially since we’ve seen the office give away our voter information and now we’re having them drop the ball currently with the voting that’s going to be happening here. They’re not addressing issues like they should be. So we really need to put somebody into place who actually is going to do the job correctly,” Lesnar said [Mercer, 2026.09.17].
…and Republicans are bad at picking election chiefs:
“I think that what we’re seeing is the Republican convention not picking qualified candidates for the secretary of state. They’ve changed every four years their candidates. And each new election, they seem to be changing those candidates every time. So what does it say about the Republican Party and who they are choosing? If they’re not satisfied with one candidate, then they’re still not satisfied with the next candidate. That is a problem they have to look into,” Lesnar said [Mercer, 2026.09.17].
Libertarian Lesnar’s forthright indictment of the incompetence and anti-democracy of South Dakota’s one-party regime contrasts starkly with the wishy-washy warblings of Democratic SOS candidate Terrence Davis, who says hand-counting isn’t that bad:
Asked where he stands on returning to hand counting votes, Davis, the Democratic candidate, said, “Well, I’ll be clear. I trust our systems here in South Dakota. I think we have a working system. I support hand counting as a secondary measure, if need be. But you know, in conjunction with the technology or the tabulating machines and even oversight with hand counting, I think that’s part of the best way to go. Using hand count as a primary measure? I don’t think so” [Mercer, 2026.09.17].
As for the Republican pick, Davis just mumbles something about respecting conventioneers who nominate unqualified Secretaries of State:
Davis was more reserved regarding how Republicans nominate candidates for secretary of state.
“Well, we had to respect the votes of the delegates. Obviously, it would be regards to the Republican Party. They decided to go a different direction this year, and we just had to respect it,” Davis said [Mercer, 2026.09.17].
Davis misses the point the Lesnar keenly makes: Republicans did not go a different direction this year; they went the same direction, toward ever more turdbirdery in running elections.
Libertarian Tamara Lesnar appears to recognize what Democratic candidate Terrence Davis does not: Republicans are threatening our voting rights and free and fair elections with bad ideas and bad candidates, and we need to alert voters to that threat with clear, uncompromising language.