Minnehaha Commission approves two absentee voting drop boxes on adjacent county properties
Dave Baumeister | County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – Minnehaha Auditor Bob Lutz received approval from the county commission this week to place absentee ballot drop boxes on two county properties. This was a watered-down proposal to what Lutz originally wanted for absentee ballot boxes at all Sioux Falls and county library branches.
Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken previously announced publicly that the city would not allow the county to place those boxes. While the county operates the libraries, Sioux Falls owns the land on which they sit, making it necessary for the boxes to be part of a joint effort. Earlier, Lutz received criticism from TenHaken for not contacting him in regard to his ballot plans, but Lutz had been working closely with Sioux Falls City Finance Officer and Clerk Tom Greco, who is in charge of city elections.
At the commission meeting, the motion was made and unanimously approved to have the two drop boxes placed only one block apart. Commissioner Dean Karsky asked Lutz about why they would be so close, and Lutz explained this was because of things they usually see at voting time. He said that one box would be placed near the west entrance of the county administration building at 6th and Minnesota in Sioux Falls.
During the June primary election, ballots were “stuffed” in the Minnehaha County Treasurer’s property tax drop box at the same location. Also, across the street at 6th and Dakota is the county election center, which is where in-person absentee voting takes place. Lutz said that in the past, that mail slot has also been crammed with absentee ballots people bring in after hours, making it logical for the second box to go there. Plus, at those locations, a security camera is already installed in one spot, and another can be easily put in place until the election. Thus, making these drop boxes much more secure than how voting took place in past elections.
Lutz also fielded questions about other locations outside of Sioux Falls. Although TenHaken refused to let the county use the library property, commissioners wondered why the boxes would not be placed elsewhere in Minnehaha County. He said, that in his role as the chief election official for the county, he didn’t feel it was right to give voters outside of Sioux Falls an option that Sioux Falls voters did not have. However, his main reason was that the bulk of ballots would come from Sioux Falls, and without the city’s cooperation, the effectiveness of the entire project would be reduced to the point that it would not be necessary.
During public comments, former county commission candidate Nikki Gronli of Dell Rapids spoke of her dismay that the mayor of Sioux Falls had, essentially, usurped the power to decide how the rest of the county would be able to vote. Commissioner Jeff Barth also voiced his displeasure that TenHaken had acted unilaterally to block county voters from being able to safely cast their ballots.
Barth referred to a statement made by TenHaken where he pointed out that the drop boxes go against something the “Secretary of State for Iowa” said, but Barth added that the people who matter, South Dakota Secretary of State Steve Barnett and Kea Warne, the Director of Elections with Barnett’s office both approved of Litz’s plan.
At the meeting, Barth was very angry that an elected official of one municipality in the county acted like he knew more than the people running elections for the county and the entire state of South Dakota. The costs Lutz had for purchasing and installing both boxes was just over $4,000.
There will be no county commission meeting next week, as all commissioners will be attending the annual meeting of the South Dakota Association of County Commissions to be held in Sioux Falls on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 14 and 15.
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 22.