South Dakota republicans call for contested election

PIERRE, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - South Dakota Republican legislators are calling for the November presidential election to be audited.

In a letter to South Dakota’s congressional delegation, 27 state Republican legislators called on Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), and Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) to call for ”a full forensic audits of the vote in states in question.”

If any of South Dakota’s representatives were to challenge the results of the November presidential election, they would join a growing chorus of Republican lawmakers looking to do the same. The President of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence, will certify the results of the election before a joint session of the United States Congress on January 6th.

The letter was spearheaded by State Representative Liz May (R-Kyle). It casts doubt on the election results from six key states; Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada. President-elect Joe Biden won all six of those states.

“The leader of our party, President Trump, has said that there have been some voter irregularities,” said State Representative Tom Pischke (R-Dell Rapids) who signed onto the letter. “I believe that we should investigate those. (And) If there is anything to investigate, I believe our DC delegation should represent the SD legislature and the people of South Dakota and try and investigate if anything happened.”

There are a number of similar letters making the rounds amongst South Dakota state lawmakers. State Representative and former Speaker of the House Steve Haugaard (R-Sioux Falls) signed on, and has his own letter to the same people, with the same goals. Haugaard was an attendee at a rally this past weekend where people casted doubt on Biden’s electoral win, and called for action to keep President Trump in office.

None of South Dakota’s congressional delegation has responded to a request for comment regarding the letter. However, none of the three have expressed plans to challenge November’s election on January 6th.

In a response to these efforts, the South Dakota Democratic Party offered the following statement: “Republican lawmakers’ request of our Congressional delegation to not certify the 2020 Presidential (election) for Biden/Harris seeks only to put themselves in some kind of limelight and stroke their own egos. Instead, this desperate move highlights their unwillingess to move forward, together, as a state and nation. It also speaks to their continued desire for approval by President Trump. South Dakotans want their elected officials to get back to doing the work of the people.”