An effort to force South Dakota’s eighth largest county to count all ballots by hand and rid itself of any technology used in voting saw a major defeat last week.
But a unanimous vote by the Lawrence County Commission to block that citizen-led ballot initiative proposal is not the end of the road for hand-count proponents.
Nicole Braithwaite, a lead petition circulator for the movement to force a countywide vote to ban voting machines and tabulators, says they are actively pursuing legal counsel to force the county to make the vote happen. The hand-count effort is being led by South Dakota Canvassing.
“We are seeking legal counsel to help us force a writ of mandamus,” said Braithwaite, referring to a maneuver where a judge could force the county to allow the election to go forward. “They broke the law.”
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