Hey, it's another Democrat with a four-syllable, twelve-letter name! Rock on, brother!
Tony Bartholomaus announces that he is running for Minnehaha County Auditor. The 37-year-old Sioux Falls Democrat says he wants to bring his banking experience to the auditor's office:
On May 28th, 2014 Tony Bartholomaus announced his candidacy for Minnehaha County Auditor. Bartholomaus, 37, is married and the father of two with his wife Ashley. He is employed as a personal banker in Sioux Falls. Bartholomaus, a Democrat, is a newcomer to politics:
I get a great deal of pleasure in my current work helping my clients achieve financial success and stability. My current position requires attention to detail, financial expertise, a strong work ethic, a team effort and, sometimes, long hours. I want to bring these same qualities of competence and hard work to the office of Minnehaha County Auditor and provide the people of Minnehaha County the leadership the office needs [Anthony Bartholomaus, press release, 2014.05.28].
Bartholomaus says Minnehaha County could use a good dose of attention to detail to make up for "miscues" by current auditor Bob Litz:
Unfortunately, the confidence the Auditor's office enjoyed in the past has suffered under its current leadership . Recent ballot errors and election mistakes have been well documented in the press and at County Commission meetings. The Auditor’s office has a hardworking staff. And, just like the citizens they serve, they deserve the support and leadership of a competent Auditor That is why I offer myself to the citizens of Minnehaha County as a choice... the right choice for Auditor this November [Bartholomaus, 2014.05.28].
Bartholomaus says his main message will be "restoring the tradition of hard work and competence." Hey, Tony, with a message like that, are you sure you don't want to run for Secretary of State? Whichever Democrat runs for state election chief can borrow Bartholomaus's text verbatim.
Having met Tony I am pleased to see this announcement. Minnehaha county needs a more professional approach to this important position.
What a coincidence! His wife is our Realtor, and we happen to be closing on a property tomorrow. Good luck Tony!
To say Litz's term as Minnehaha County Auditor has been disappointing is an understatement. Missing ballots, misprinted ballots, financial miscues, intimidation and threats of criminal complaint against those bringing errors to Mr. Litz's attention. Enough is enough. This is an important office, not a slack job for a home town jock and good old boy. For the last four year, Mr. Litz has steadily undermined the confidence the Auditor's office long enjoyed under the firm direction of Sue Roust. We need someone to restore this confidence. Good luck Tony.
I am pleased that someone has decided to campaign for the position, but I do want to comment on Bob Litz performance when it comes to the election process.
Robert had a challenge that Sue Roust did not have (and btw, Sue was terrific,) that is the changing of people going to their respective polling places as it has been for years, to now any registered voter can go any voting station to vote, and that means computer coordination and ballot coordination.
As the the vote-anywhere system becomes used more often, it should become smoother for each election.
I live on the west side of town, my neighbor works on the east side of town, so instead of voting at a westside location as she had done in previous elections she voted for the candidate for mayor and etc, at an eastside polling place.
How Robert is for handling the finance, I do not know, all I am saying is that I am willing to give Robert a benefit of a doubt in handling all the changes in the voting system.
I was shocked to open the paper this morning and find that the e-poll is out and the vote any place is out for the primaries and for the general this fall. Plus a lot of the previous polling places have changed, partially because the schools are not going to allow use of the schools for these elections, (problems negotiating with the county and auditor's office??). No listing of which polling places will be used. My normal polling place, Center for Active Generations, was not used during the city, are they going to use it again for the primaries and general?
Lanny,
You put your finger on an important point. The technology the the voting centers use is expensive and there is not enough money to equip every precinct so they want to use fewer locations. The simple city/school election had plenty of problems. A survey of voters who successfully cast their ballot in that election was done but nobody talked to those who did not vote.
I met one fella who went to vote and found his "regular" location closed. He was told he could vote "anywhere" but nobody could tell him where anywhere was.
It would require hundreds of expensive computers (e-poll books) to do the whole county and they would stay in boxes for a year or so between uses. Would they all still work when unpacked? Who would do all the upgrades when they were turned back on? How long would that take? Minnehaha county presents some unique problems for getting voters the right ballot. In the city election one man was given a ballot that incorrectly allowed him to vote only for the Tea school board and not for Sioux Falls Mayor. In a general election every voting location would need to have at least eight different ballots as each legislative district has it's own ballot. Opportunities for error would greatly increased.
Meanwhile folks in Sioux Falls Lincoln county would not be able to use any location in Minnehaha county.
It is complicated but has great potential. I personally think that this constant changing of location and proceedures is an attempt at voter suppression. Don't let the elderly vote, don't let people without cars vote and make sure there is no voting location near the Walmart opponents etc.
Not ready for Prime Time.
Thanks Jeff, although we know that both you and Cory are just political junkies, (at least according to Susan W.) I fit the criteria you described, as I am both a senior citizen and don't have a car.
I agree with your analysis of voter suppression as being part of the issue, just as the voter ID is. Thanks for all of your efforts to better our county, particularly the increase in tax on alcohol to help the counties with their budgets. People don't realize that neither the counties nor the school districts get to share in the sales tax for your budget. So with the freeze put on the property tax by the legislature, that would and does make the school districts and counties look terrible if they ask for a waiver on that freeze. Meanwhile the sales tax and the contractors tax continues to grow because of the increase in business.