Threats made by Meade County Auditor's Office

FOR ASKING QUESTIONS

Breaking News from Meade County:

Residents of counties all across South Dakota are asking questions about the election process because they want to understand how their votes are being counted. The fact is, no one can understand how our votes are being counted.

Sure, an election official can follow the steps provided by ES&S on how to run ballots through a machine, insert flash drives here, there, and everywhere, and then take those results to the internet and report them. But that DOES NOT explain how our votes are being COUNTED. Counting happens in a proprietary, super secret black box, with software programmed by ES&S, downloaded onto ES&S proprietary programmed flash drives, with an illegally denied and intentionally hidden audit trail. Nothing about it is counted in public as the law says. The election officials cannot honestly say they know how the votes are being counted, because the super secret black box is doing it.

This is the response received by a Meade County resident when he asked questions of Reggie Rhoden, Meade County Deputy Auditor and Son of Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden:

Much like machines, staff don't last forever either. I believe I've mentioned that we recently lost 3 of 4 Deputy Auditors and our county Auditor. I'm filling in out of necessity and I'm going to speak openly with you, James, because you grew up in this county and should understand the sense of community we have here and the way we try to help each other out when help is (or is not) needed. Speaking on behalf of myself, I have seen our elections processes inside and out from the top office to the Auditor's office, including multiple other County offices. I also participated in the Summer Study on election integrity and have heard from Auditors across the state. I can definitively say with absolute certainty that there is zero cause for the media-manufactured hysteria surrounding our secure elections. And yes, I'll admit that seeing Quixotic political activists trying to create extra work for County employees who are already being overworked puts me in a position where I am forced to stand up for them and speak the simple truth on their behalf.

The truth is that the best thing anyone could do for election integrity in their county is create less work for their County Auditor's office, not more. So far as voter-fraud, there has been nothing passed through court, no evidence, no trials, no convictions, absolutely nothing to remotely provide any support to the shadow of a claim of voter fraud in our state, let alone our county. None, zero. I've looked and looked but it doesn't exist. The same goes for the efficacy of hand counting. Tabulators are calculably more accurate and efficient. They provide faster, more accurate results with far less variables. They don't connect to the internet, they don't know what parties are, don't know who the candidates are, and much like a calculator doesn't care what its calculating, a tabulator doesn't care what it's tabulating.

Hand-counting ballots is not supported by any Auditor's office in this state. It's more expensive, time-intensive, and less secure than tabulators. Voting tabulators don't have bias, they don't get exhausted after a 14-hour workday, they don't miscount, they provide same-day results, and they have only one job - to tabulate.

It's a tool, James. Tools can be repaired and perfected over time, the human individual is loaded with incalculable variables and can never be fixed. Hand-Counting is an unnecessary risk, expense, and has no tangible impetus aside from manufactured fearin those who don't understand the capabilities and limitations of computation hardware and spend too much time reading on Facebook.

To this date there has not been ONE election in all of South Dakota which has had its results changed or had less-accurate results due to tabulation machines, not one. But because some people are unhappy with results in other states, they want to increase the Auditor's Office workloads despite their already strict budgetary restrictions, cumbersome workload, and poor pay. It's a hot topic, and I understand that it's fun to ask questions and participate in the process, but the people in this office have serious work that needs to be done. The greatest threat to our elections at this current time are those trying to change it without just cause, essentially attempting to solve a problem that by every measure doesn’t exist.

As for cast-vote ballots, Meade county does not take legal interpretations from civilians. You should be VERY careful when trying to dictate legal interpretations to the county, especially when referencing Federal laws in the same breath that you're stating that you believe in Trump's vote being stolen as "too obvious a theft", especially while a state GOP motion intends to condemn the FBI for Election Interference. You can see how that’s a bit self-contradictory if in your opinion the Feds were to be condemned for "too obvious a theft" while also providing a misrepresenting comment about following some uncited Federal law which directly contradicts State law. If we were to listen to your interpretation of cast-vote ballots and provide them to the public, we would be in direct violation of South Dakota law, so I STRONGLY suggest you never again take it upon yourself to provide your incorrect interpretations of Federal law to a county office, as you could get in very serious trouble. In short, stop speaking upon things you don’t actually know about because it could get you or the people you’re falsely advising into lawsuit. Read the article below.

Jan 24, 2024: In South Dakota, the Office of Hearing Examiners ruled that cast vote records are not public:

Reggie A. Rhoden

Deputy Auditor

Meade County Auditor’s Office

1300 Sherman St, Suite #126

Sturgis, SD 57785

Phone: 605.347.2360  Ext. 3213

JUST WHO IS THREATENING WHO?

As the Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) brings Senate Bill 20, An Act to establish the crime of threatening or intimidating an election official or election worker, maybe we should turn this around and establish the crime of officials threatening the citizens they work for! Reggie must really be drinking the DHS/CISA narrative kool-aid.

If you can’t answer questions about a system you don’t personally understand without getting hostile, you should probably resign, Reggie. Does anyone know why 3 of 4 deputy auditors and the auditor quit? For everyone that doesn’t know, Reggie Rhoden was working in the SOS office, and left to be appointed Deputy Auditor in Meade County, apparently because of the aforementioned emergency.

Unfortunately, this could have been resolved three years ago if the election cabal in South Dakota would have prioritized transparency with the citizens they WORK FOR over running cover for private, for-profit corporations with a long history of pay for play schemes and botched elections.

Way back when we started asking questions, the consistent answer provided was “Elections are 20% of our job.” And it was obvious it’s the bottom 20%. This issue needs to be addressed by every county now. Elections should be priority #1! Well funded, well staffed, and treated as though it is “the right that secures all other rights.”

The County would save lots of money if we stopped wasting so much on machines and technology that no one understands. The citizens would do the work of counting the votes on election night in the precinct, the chain of custody secured, and the auditor would only need to compile the returned, completed tally sheets. No ES&S reps or complicated machines necessary for that, and EVERYONE would 100% understand how their votes were counted.

If we gave the elections back to the citizens, trust would be restored, and Reggie wouldn’t have to answer so many questions. But what do we know? We’re just the people casting the votes.