Pennington County commissioners hear extensive public push for hand counting; legal counsel says 5% audit statute limits apply

Dozens of residents told the Pennington County Board of Commissioners they want greater transparency in the upcoming governor’s runoff and urged the board to require a precinct‑level, 100% hand count after polling. "We have organized them by precinct ... there are 221 names. We only needed 170," said Kirsten Mitchell, who helped recruit volunteers.

Tyler with the State's Attorney’s Office told the board the legal framework is narrow. "The post‑election audit is a strict 5% on the post‑election audit," he said, and the office had advised that the post‑election audit applies to primary and general elections but not necessarily to the special runoff under consideration. That legal assessment framed the rest of the discussion.

Speakers on both sides pressed the board. Several volunteers described training and logistics they had put together; Dale Moose told the board he had documented invoices and argued for local spending on counting workers. Other residents and at least one commissioner raised operational concerns: the auditor's office and HR reported they were short‑staffed after a county cyber incident and that preparing, training and credentialing the roughly 220 volunteers would be difficult on the timetable before the runoff.

Commissioner Rosette moved to rescind the commission's prior July 7 motion (which had directed staff to proceed with the tabulation and do an audit "if legal"). The board took a roll‑call vote; the motion to rescind failed. The board did not adopt a new 100% hand‑count process at the meeting. Commissioners directed staff to keep working with the county auditor, counsel and community volunteers and to plan any hand‑count option for a later election if statutory or operational hurdles cannot be resolved in time for the runoff.

The board also recorded concern from members of the public about contract payments to a tabulation vendor; citizens noted that vendor invoices had been paid and questioned budget implications. Auditor Sabrina Green explained current poll‑worker pay rates and noted payroll and certification logistics that would affect any rapid shift to precinct hand counting.

Next steps: the commission left the existing July 7 motion on the books, asked staff to return with clearer legal and logistical guidance, and encouraged the volunteer organizers to continue preparing for a possible future hand‑count exercise.