My points for non-South Dakotans were;
1. Because of SD’s geographic/philosophical/time difference, early voting returns will normally be Democrat heavy. Republican votes weigh in later.
2. Because of the historic late returns of certain Democrat counties, close elections in SD cannot be “called” until vote fraud has been eliminated from the equation.
Our views do not oppose each other. Rather, yours are more refined than mine. And though your SD voting observations may be too detailed for non-South Dakotans, I will certainly use them in watching future elections.
Very glad that Kristi won. Will be good to have a South Dakotan representing us for a change. And when Miss Perky has to leave the gravy train, I'm sure it won't be to live in South Dakota. She'll be unpacking he designer carpet bags elsewhere.
As you say; “Two down, one to go...”
Yes, my post was meant to complement and tweak your own observations, not disagree with them. And they are indeed probably mainly of interest to keen (obsessed?) observers of SD politics.
Your basic principles — East vs West, potential for fraud in certain precincts, are spot-on and essential for understanding South Dakota. What is unique to South Dakota, (or at least I haven’t seen it in other states) is that the voting tendencies aren’t just separated by regions of the state (that’s pretty common,) but very neatly by time-zone.
So, as we both said, all of the most Dem friendly vote comes in first, scaring people who don’t realize that the best stuff won’t start coming in until an hour later. This is just one more close election that shows that if a Pubbie is behind by only a few thousand in East River, he/she is going to win.
Noem won the same way that Thune did — running just a bit closer than expected in just about every precinct out east, and then blowing it wide open out west.
Now if we can just find someone willing to take on Tim Johnson and do the same.