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Two years ago, when we started out looking at elections in South Dakota, we quickly realized the state law is very poorly written. It is vague, lax, and open to interpretation, which then lends itself to abuse. We looked at residency law first so we could determine what a legal residence is.
12-1-4. Criteria for determining voting residence.
For the purposes of this title, the term, residence, means the place in which a person is domiciled as shown by an actual fixed permanent dwelling, establishment, or any other abode to which the person returns after a period of absence.
A person who leaves the residence and goes into another county of this state or another state or territory for a temporary purpose has not changed residence.
A person is considered to have gained residence in any county or municipality of this state in which the person actually lives, if the person has no present intention of leaving.
A person retains residence in this state until another residence has been gained. If a person moves from this state to another state or territory with the intention of making it the person's permanent home, the person loses residence in this state.
Prior to 07/01/2023 the law read like this:
For the purposes of this title, the term residence, means the place in which a person has fixed his habitation and to which the person, whenever absent, intends to return.
12-3-1. General qualifications of voters.
Every person who, at the time of an election, maintains residence in this state, will be eighteen years of age or older on or before the next election, is not otherwise disqualified, and complies with the law regarding the registration of voters pursuant to chapter 12-4, may vote at any election in this state.
12-4-1. Persons entitled to register--Precinct.
A person who maintains residence, as provided in § 12-1-4, within the state for at least thirty days prior to submitting the registration form, and who has the qualifications of a voter prescribed by § 12-3-1 or 12-3-1.1, or who will have such qualifications at the next ensuing municipal, primary, general, or school district election, is entitled to be registered as a voter in the election precinct in which the person maintains residence.
A person eligible to vote may vote only in the election precinct where the person maintains residence.
Our voter registration form, prior to 07/01/2023 had this affidavit below:
I actually live at and have no present intention of leaving the above address.
During the 2023 legislative session, Senator Randy Deibert brought Senate Bill 139 to add a 30 day residency requirement. You can find the bill HERE. The intention of the legislation was to strengthen voter registration requirements, as one day in South Dakota previously sufficed as “residency”. Common sense would say we must add the 30 day residency requirement to the form without changing anything else. A person is considered to have gained residence in any county or municipality of this state in which the person actually lives, if the person has no present intention of leaving is still in SDCL 12-1-4.
Well, that is expecting too much from our state government and officials, who seem to lack common sense on this issue. Instead of using this added requirement to protect the South Dakota vote and elections, the Board of Elections and the South Dakota Legislature REMOVED the affidavit of “I actually live at and have no present intention of leaving the above address” from the voter registration form.
The State Law now reads as below as an effect of SB139.
12-4-1.2. Voter registration form--Certification.
The voter registration form must include a certification of voter eligibility by which the applicant attests, under the penalty of perjury, that the applicant:
(1) Is a citizen of the United States;
(2) Will be eighteen years or older on or before the next election;
(3) Has maintained residence in South Dakota for at least thirty days prior to submitting the registration form;
(4) Has not been judged mentally incompetent;
(5) Is not currently serving a sentence for a felony conviction; and
(6) Authorizes the cancellation of a previous registration, if applicable.
The Board of Elections was tasked with promulgating rules for the newly adopted state laws. This meeting was held June 28, 2023 in Pierre, SD. Over 40 citizens from all areas of the state attended this meeting for the duration, and many more online, despite being made to stand or sit on the floor due the selection of a tiny meeting room. These citizens were all there to OPPOSE removing the statement “I actually live at and have no present intention of leaving the above address.” WHY? Because this leaves our voter registrations wide open to FRAUD. You can watch the meeting HERE.
Volunteers of SD Canvassing previously obtained many original voter registration forms from the county auditor’s offices that look like this:
Line 3A states “If Residence Address is a PO Box, rural box, general delivery, you MUST give the location of your residence. As you can see, line 3A is not properly filled out and the Auditors have not been doing their job to ensure accurate and complete voter registration forms as per: SDCL 12-4-5.3. Review of voter registration application by auditor--Notice to applicant--Promulgation of rules.
When a voter registration application is received by the county auditor, the county auditor or an individual designated by the county auditor shall review the application for eligibility and completeness.
If the applicant is not eligible to be registered or sufficient information to complete the registration card cannot be obtained from the applicant, the county auditor must send an acknowledgment notice by nonforwardable mail to the applicant indicating the reason the registration was not filed. The acknowledgment notice must state that the applicant needs to submit the corrected information to the county auditor within thirty days or the voter registration form may not be processed. The county auditor shall send an acknowledgment notice by nonforwardable mail to the applicant whose registration is accepted.
We believe there are tens of thousands of these voter registrations on the voter rolls. When Pennington County Auditor, Cindy Mohler, was questioned as to whether she reviews these forms from the DMV and the mail forwarding companies, after the fifth time, she answered NO, she does not review them for accuracy and completeness.
Now how do you send a voter registration acknowledgement notice by non-forwardable mail to a voter registered to vote from a mail forwarding service who receives the client’s mail and then FORWARDS it?? This is the very essence of their business model, which is exploding across the state. Did the BOE or Legislature think to address this one? NO!
The Board of Elections passed their rules package proposed by Tom Diedrick, Deputy SOS. They also passed a rule on voter roll cyber security written by none other than BPRO, Inc., the voter roll maintenance company contracted by the SOS. What could be the problem with letting the vendors write their own rules, right? The citizens who showed up to plead for integrity were ignored. The board passed the changes anyway.
The State Legislative Rules Committee met July 18, 2023 to consider adopting the proposed rule changes from the BOE. You can listen to the hearing HERE. (Starts at 1:18:00 mark) AGAIN, citizens showed up to testify and emailed written testimony for the Rules Committee asking them to use their common sense and leave the statement of “I actually live at and have no present intention of leaving the above address” on the voter registration form. There was no proponent testimony except that of Tom Diedrick, Deputy Secretary of State. Rick Weible gave testimony that should have made the committee stop in their tracks and ask “What is going on here??” Rick even brought up the fact that China recently (May and June 2023) hacked the U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Commerce and the Department of Defense through the Microsoft Azure platform. Well guess what folks, Bpro, Inc. maintains our voter rolls on the Microsoft Azure Cloud. This means all your personal information is stored right there, on the platform China just hacked!
The government, who is supposed to represent the people, disregarded expert opponent testimony and pleas for integrity, and REMOVED the statement from the voter registration form, along with several other bad rule changes. Representative Jon Hansen was the only one who seemed to hear what was being said and acknowledged the change was actually making the form worse than what is was.
It was actually said in this hearing that the committee is not there to question how the BOE came up with the rules, but rather they must rubber stamp the changes, no matter how poorly executed. It was also stated, we can just pass this now, and come back to it another time. WOW, why do we have a committee for legislative oversight then? Why don’t they just save the time and money and just automatically approve the BOE rules without wasting everyone’s time? (Who, by the way, are a bunch of unelected appointed bureaucrats who have enjoyed working in anonymity until now.) https://sdsos.gov/about-the-office/board-of-elections/default.aspx
These are the members of the committee: https://sdlegislature.gov/Interim/Committee/461/Detail
Chair:
Vice-Chair:
Representatives:
Senators:
The BOE and the Rules Committee just opened the door wide to fraud. They neglected their duty to protect and defend. Don’t be surprised when the radical amendments pass in 2024, and wonder how this could happen here, when we are warning you right now that this is how it’s done. And it happened right in front of our faces while we begged our representative government to use their common sense.
Is this a government that is representing it’s people wishes? We surely don’t think so.
In the Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew Trewhella, Chapter 5, The Objective Standard for Law, Trewhella writes:
God’s moral law as the “higher law” provides an objective standard whereby one is able to discern right from wrong, or good from evil. The “higher laws” exist independent of the authority of any government, and all governments of men are accountable to it. The tyrant State abhors an objective standard to which it is accountable, rather it flourishes in a subjective environment. It wants to be accountable to no one.
Most of our encounters with the local and state government have revealed a tyrant state that wants to be accountable to no one.
The good news is God’s law is the supreme law of the land, and eternity is coming. Every soul on earth will stand before the Creator one day.
Phillippians 2:10-11: “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Luke 8:17 NKJV promises “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.”
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This is a must read and be sent to all elected officials.
Patriots are knocking it out of the park in South Dakota. You've brought the light, and accountability is coming.