South Dakota Counties Reject Hand-Counting Ballot Measures

Voters in Gregory, Haakon, and Tripp counties opt to keep machine tabulation, citing cost and accuracy concerns.

Three South Dakota counties voted against measures to require hand-counting ballots in future elections.
Local officials argued that hand-counting would be more expensive and less accurate than machine tabulation.
The measures were part of a broader movement influenced by claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Petitions for similar hand-counting measures are circulating in other South Dakota counties and may appear on November ballots.
South Dakota's primary election will include a post-election audit to compare hand-counted results with machine tabulations.