(Pierre, SD) — Voters in three South Dakota counties are giving the final verdict on how they want votes counted in November’s general election. Hand count ballot measures lost in all three — Gregory, Haakon and Tripp counties — following yesterday’s Primary. The question was asked if the use of vote tabulation machines should be banned for future elections. Gregory County had the slimmest margin at 54-46 percent, while Haakon County had the widest at 61-39 percent. The measures stemmed from petitions organized by the group South Dakota Canvassing as part of a larger effort to go back to hand-counting ballots in an attempt to protect election security. According to the Heritage Foundation, there have been no cases of election fraud tied to vote counting machines in South Dakota.
