Codington County Approves 2026 Election Canvass; Sheridan Township Ballot Discrepancy Explained
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - The Codington County Board of Commissioners met Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, to conduct and approve the official county canvass of the 2026 General Election results. Following a review of the tabulator and state-input totals with County Auditor Brenda Hanten, the board unanimously approved the canvass on a motion by Commissioner Tyler McElhany and a second by Commissioner Lee Gabel.
During the canvass, Chairman Troy VanDusen and commissioners compared the county tabulator reports against the figures entered for state reporting across federal, state, legislative, and county contests, as well as statewide constitutional amendments and a county referendum.
Sheridan Township Poll Book Reconciliation Explained
While reviewing the Legislative District 5 races, Hanten explained how election officials and the Codington County State's Attorney handled a three-ballot discrepancy discovered in Sheridan Township on election night, where the number of ballots in the ballot box exceeded the number of voters recorded in the precinct poll book by three.
Hanten told the board that election workers followed South Dakota administrative rules governing excess ballots (South Dakota Secretary of State Administrative Rules), specifically ARSD 5:02:16:09, which outlines the mandatory procedure for drawing excess ballots so the ballot count matches the reconciled poll book before tabulation is finalized.
"When there's an excess, if the number of ballots in the ballot box shall be found to exceed the number of voters in the poll book as reconciled by 5:02:16:05 and 5:02:16:08, the ballots shall be then placed in the box, which they were, and the number was, we were off by three," Hanten explained. "And so what happens then is they pulled out by random, the individuals running the tabulator took out three ballots. They are kept. They are put in a yellow sheet and they are marked then that those were not read. So then the number of ballots matched the number of individuals in the poll book. And then we continued on and ran them through and then it was all matched."
When commissioners asked how a discrepancy between the ballot count and the poll book can occur at a polling place, Hanten explained that discrepancies are unintentional and can stem from pre-packaged ballot bundles not containing the exact assumed count of 50 ballots if workers do not hand-count every blank ballot inside a sealed package prior to opening the polls. Conversely, if a precinct is one ballot short, it typically occurs when a checked-in voter leaves with an uncast ballot.
Hanten also detailed the multi-step check-in verification used at polling places: poll workers verify voter identification, record the voter’s name in the poll book, and cross-reference a separate master voter list that flags whether an individual has already cast an absentee ballot and the date it was cast.
Commissioners noted that the Sheridan Township reconciliation fell within Legislative District 5, where the State Senate contest featured an unopposed candidate and the State House contest did not have a close margin, and encouraged counting all ballot packets prior to future elections to verify starting numbers.
Verifying Official Codington County and Statewide Election Returns
In South Dakota, county commissions canvass county-level returns following the general election before official certification is finalized. Voters and residents looking to view the certified candidate lists and official election returns for federal, statewide, legislative, county, and ballot measure contests can access them directly through the state and county election authorities:
1. South Dakota Secretary of State Election Results Portal: Visit the official state election results website at electionresults.sd.gov or the South Dakota Secretary of State Division of Elections main portal (sdsos.gov) to view statewide, legislative, and county-by-county breakdowns for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Governor and Lieutenant Governor, state constitutional offices, Legislative Districts 4 and 5, and statewide constitutional amendments.
2. Codington County Auditor's Office: Official county canvass records, precinct-level breakdowns, and local ballot measure results are maintained by the Codington County Auditor's Office at the Codington County Courthouse, 14 1st Ave. SE in Watertown, and posted on the county's official website
