Letter to the Editor: Meyer: Election integrity

We are a grassroots groupof South Dakota citizens looking into voter discrepancies in the November 2020 election. We have identified many irregularities. Multiple locations throughout the state indicate many people voted from sites such as campgrounds, motels, hotels, mail forwarding services, homeless shelters, empty fields, etc.  

Our group purchased the voter rolls from the 2020 election. By examining this data, we have identified concerning information. One such example being 5,886 votes were cast from a mail forwarding service in Box Elder, S.D. Our understanding of currently written residency law is that a person can claim a park bench as a residence if they state they intend to return to that park bench.  

Does your county use electronic poll books, vote centers or super precincts? If so, it diminishes local oversight by human voter identification and voting in your own precinct. Devices such as Knowink electronic poll books (e-poll books) can be connected to the internet and are vulnerable to hacking and cyberattacks. E-Poll Books are expensive. The projected cost for Lincoln County was $77,000 for the electronic poll book I-pads only. That cost did not include tech support, security or validation.  Minnehaha County Election 2022 budget has been increased from $371,414 in 2018 to $830,230.  What is the huge increase for?

Does your county use drop boxes? Minnehaha and Lincoln counties currently use drop boxes.  According to an article in the Minnehaha Messenger paper dated 12/10/21, Minnehaha County is planning to continue the use of their two existing drop boxes from the 2020 election cycle. Some questions we would have are what security measures will be in place? Are the drop boxes monitored by high resolution cameras? Are the drop boxes secured with common locks? Are the locks hackable? 

Absentee voting is another area of concern. Will absentee voting be restricted to only special circumstances like military members not living in South Dakota, people who will be away for business, etc. What is your county planning to use to process absentee ballots? If electronic equipment will be used for processing absentee ballots, what kind of equipment will be used? Will the equipment be a new purchase and if so, what will the cost be?  

In summary, we are advocating for the following changes in election laws:

• Vote only at your precinct;

• Institute tougher residency laws;

• Eliminate drop boxes and all electronic devices, including e-poll books;

• Return to paper voting and manual tabulation to eliminate hacking and cyber-attack opportunities.

If Election Integrity is important to you, then citizens of South Dakota, we need your help. Call or email your county officials and start asking questions regarding the use of electronic machines or drop boxes. Contact your state representatives regarding changes to our residency and voter laws to make South Dakota elections secure. For more information and to get involved to help improve South Dakota’s elections, go to www.SDCanvassing.com.

Cindy Meyer

SD Canvassing

 

 

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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