Commissioner accuses county auditor of releasing 'half-baked' information on 2020 election
Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson addressed claims about discrepancies she said she found in the county's 2020 election data during Tuesday's Minnehaha County Commission meeting, citing it as one of the reasons she wanted to do a full audit of the June 4 primary.
But several commissioners continued to express frustration with her actions, with one saying that she had irresponsibly released "half-baked information" and another asking why Anderson had not informed the commission of her concerns during canvassing.
Anderson began the meeting outlining the 100% hand-counted audit of the June 4 primary she has called for, stating that it will begin at 10 a.m. on June 25, with 50 people participating — people she said are a roughly equal split of Republicans and non-Republicans, i.e. a mix of Democrats, non-party affiliated, independents or Libertarians.
She estimated a cost of about $4,500 for the audit, with 50 people being paid $18 an hour for about five hours, though she added that between 20-25 of the people had already stated they did not want to be paid.
Anderson told the commission "the big question" had been why she changed her mind from doing the standard audit newly required by state law to the 100% hand-counted audit.
She told commissioners it was the best format to allow others to help verify the election, and didn't believe a 5% audit was enough to verify an election. She added the low primary turnout would make it easier to check every ballot.
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But Anderson also discussed concerns she said she found regarding the 2020 election.
While she described them broadly to the commission, mostly focusing on what she says is a discrepancy between vote totals shown in the official vote count compared to the audit logs, Anderson has made it clear in multiple interviews that she believes Minnehaha County's votes in the 2020 election could have been altered by an algorithm intended to harm Republicans' chances in elections around the country.
Commissioner Dean Karsky said he was interested in getting to the bottom of why the ballot totals didn't match up, adding that, "if there's a 'there' there, I'd like to know about it."
Anderson responded to do that, she'd need to look at the county's physical records from the 2020 election, something she said would take more than several weeks, and something she said she had been previously advised not to do.
Commissioner Joe Kippley, who has been critical of Anderson's actions in the past, was not as approving. He said if Anderson's goal was to increase faith in elections, it was "irresponsible" of her to put out "half-baked information" that she herself seemed to be saying was only partial without checking physical records.
Kippley pointed to the budget meeting the commission would be having later that day, saying that it would not be acceptable to show half of a budget presentation, say that millions of dollars were missing and say with a "wink wink nod nod" that perhaps something untoward had happened. He added he did not consider a screenshot of a spreadsheet she had provided to be a "smoking gun."
Anderson said her information was not half-baked, and that she had been told she was unable to publicly release much of the election data to which she was referring, adding that she would be the first one to admit if she eventually found out she was wrong.
Commissioner Jean Bender also said she was frustrated that Anderson did not mention the report and her concerns about the 2020 election in her initial reasoning for the expanded audit of the June 4 primary.
The analysis that Anderson said shows proof of the algorithm was done by a man named Jeffrey O'Donnell, a figure in the election integrity movement often referred to as "Lone Raccoon." Anderson told the commission she received it on May 14, though she didn't look closely into it until after the June 4 primary election.
Anderson said she had only fully reviewed the report on June 10, after the county canvassing board had certified the election results. Bender maintained that it was not transparent to have had the report for nearly a month and not mentioned anything about it, and that it was clearly relevant to why Anderson had pushed for an expanded audit.
Anderson also made a public apology to Minnehaha County State's Attorney Daniel Haggar during the meeting, saying she had previously said she had been threatened with a felony for manually counting ballots on Election Day. Anderson clarified that she had asked Haggar what the penalty would be for doing so, and he had answered her question by saying, "potential elected official misconduct claims aside, includes a range of misdemeanor to felony punishment."
Dozens of Anderson's supporters filled the commission chambers and an overflow room to watch the meeting on Tuesday morning, with at least 10 of them getting up to speak in her support.
What does Anderson claim she has found?
Between a press release sent out early last week and appearances on several right-wing internet programs, including an interview with election denier and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Anderson has stated that she shared county data from the 2020 election with a data expert named Jeffrey O'Donnell.
O'Donnell is known for creating a 2022 report alleging "evidence of potentially unauthorized and illegal manipulation of tabulated vote data" in two elections in Mesa County, Colorado.
While a report from the county's Republican district attorney found "extensive evidence that the conclusions in Report 3 are false," the results from Mesa County form the basis of O'Donnell's claim that "the United States of America was the victim of a coordinated multi-state conspiracy to defraud the 2020 General Election."
Examining cast vote records in affected counties, O'Donnell claims, reveals "mathematically impossible" voting patterns that he has dubbed "The Mesa Pattern," which he says is also present in Minnehaha County's voting data and that he claims can alter absentee ballots.
A federal elections expert disputed many of the claims made by O'Donnell, telling the Argus Leader that O'Donnell had "a deep misunderstanding of how elections work."
Anderson has said she doesn't completely understand the issues laid out by O'Donnell, but has signaled that she believes in the algorithm theory, telling conservative TV host Brannon Howse, "The other issue is what appears to be the same algorithm as the Mesa 3."
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Anderson has had a rocky history with the commission, who told Howse were "hostile" to her. Kippley called her performance "embarrassing" and "disappointing" late last year after she said she wasn't sure she could trust the county's election system, and briefly attempted to remove her from a group of employees scheduled to receive raises.
Commission meetings are often filled with Anderson's supporters, many of whom are members of the South Dakota Canvassing Group, who want to see bans on voting machines and mail-in voting.
Anderson has released no evidence of any of these claims outside of the press release, and in the last few days has agreed to, rescheduled and eventually declined an interview with the Argus Leader about the claims, citing a heavy workload and deadlines for a post-election audit.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Commissioner calls Minnehaha auditor's 2020 election claims 'irresponsible'
