Over 215,000 absentee ballots are filed with county auditors across South Dakota.
That’s nearly 95 percent of absentee ballots requested. And teams assembled by county auditors are sorting those ballots.
In the state’s second largest county absentee voting has been extremely heavy this year. Pennington County received more than 37,000 absentee ballots, nearly double that from 2016.
Given that influx an absentee ballot board has been at work since 7 am, opening ballots and putting an official stamp on them and getting them ready to run through the tabulators.
The ballots won’t get tallied until after the polls close, which is 7 pm local time.
Cindy Mohler is the Pennington County Auditor. She says for those heading to the polls… please be kind.
“Just keep in mind the people working the polls are doing—it’s a very long day for those people,” Mohler says. “We really appreciate they’re willing to put in the long day, especially during these times. I hope people are kind to our poll workers and maintain their social distance and be respectful of those folks because they’re working really hard to make it happen.”
In Minnehaha County, Auditor Bob Litz says given the number of absentee ballots, his office may need until Wednesday to finish counting them.