Day County, South Dakota

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm curious about this county because I actually know someone from South Dakota who has a warrant for his arrest in it. (I'm not kidding. He gets off because the warrant can only be used in Day County, so as long as he stays out of it he's safe.) I noticed that it voted for Kerry which is quite unusual considering it's only about 7% Native American. And it voted for Kerry by a wider margin than almost 30% Native neighboring Roberts County.

So what's the deal with it? Why?

[© tweed]

perhaps the Natives here are better at fraud than are their neighbours.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

perhaps the Natives here are better at fraud than are their neighbours.

The talk of fraud is mostly just GOP whining. Native turnout is absolutely horrendous. Shannon County in 2004 had about the same amount of ballots cast as neighboring Custer County, which has about half the population. And that was 2004, a GOOD year for Native turnout. In 2000 it was less than 60% of the votes cast in Custer County.

[Alcon]

perhaps the Natives here are better at fraud than are their neighbours.

The Lakota are generally victims of voting fraud (or at least low-tier intimidation), not the perpetrators.  In fact, I've never heard much about reservation voting fraud.  It might be in part because they just don't have much in the way of an organized local government structure - at least not one that would be that interested in fixing elections.

But Day County is only 7% Indian, so that's not it.  I think the answer may have related to spring wheat, but for the life of me I don't remember why.  I wish I still had my SD precinct sheet.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Lakota are generally victims of voting fraud (or at least low-tier intimidation), not the perpetrators.  In fact, I've never heard much about reservation voting fraud.

GOPers whined and blamed fraud on Reservations for Tim Johnson's victory in 2002, though it was mostly whining. What happened was that Thune led for most of the night, until the end when Shannon and Todd counties came in and he pulled narrowly ahead. It looks suspicious until you take into account that those counties are ALWAYS the last to report, the election system in Shannon is so poor they don't even count the ballots there (They're driven over to neighboring Fall River County and are tallied there.) Shannon County's count seat is actually located in Fall River too.

[Alcon]

Yeah, I was more speaking toward voter fraud that actually happens. 

Something tells me that Fall River County is not exactly a Democratic machine county.

[ottermax]

It's population has been in decline since the Great Depression. Perhaps they have been hard hit by rural flight?

[Sam Spade]

There's fraud and then there's Rio Arriba County.

[Alcon]

There's fraud and then there's Rio Arriba County.

I really don't think that there is any meaningful fraud in Day County, South Dakota whatsoever.  Look at the demographics...really.

[Sam Spade]

There's fraud and then there's Rio Arriba County.

I really don't think that there is any meaningful fraud in Day County, South Dakota whatsoever.  Look at the demographics...really.

Sometimes I'm just making a cute comment...

[Alcon]

There's fraud and then there's Rio Arriba County.

I really don't think that there is any meaningful fraud in Day County, South Dakota whatsoever.  Look at the demographics...really.

Sometimes I'm just making a cute comment...

Sorry, shoulda figured.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It's population has been in decline since the Great Depression. Perhaps they have been hard hit by rural flight?

MOst such counties in the Dakotas are solid Rpublican...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Results for selected candidates in Day county from a long time ago:

1924, LaFollette 37%
1920, Christiansen 30%
1892, Weaver 42%

[minionofmidas]

I'm curious about this county because I actually know someone from South Dakota who has a warrant for his arrest in it. (I'm not kidding. He gets off because the warrant can only be used in Day County, so as long as he stays out of it he's safe.) I noticed that it voted for Kerry which is quite unusual considering it's only about 7% Native American. And it voted for Kerry by a wider margin than almost 30% Native neighboring Roberts County.

So what's the deal with it? Why?

The Rez around here is Lake Traverse Sisseton-Wahpeton, which is so ineffective (very little land in tribal ownership, at least some White presence everywhere on it, etc) as to not be marked on most maps. It's actually fairly large. (The late Floyd Redcrow Westerman was a native. RIP.)
7% is basically too low to provoke a racist voting backlash. 30% is not.
The Dem swing in the area in 2004 - as well as its Dem tradition itself - is indeed pretty remarkable.

I figured it might have summat to do with ancestry, so I checked...
The state of South Dakota is about 40% German and 15% Norwegian, with Irish, Dakota, English, Dutch, Swedish, French, Czech (in that precise order) as other notable presences.
Day County is about 40% German, 30% Norwegian and 13% Polish, with Irish, Dakota and Swedish (again, in that precise order) as other notable presences.
Roberts is about 35% German, 30% Dakota and 20% Norwegian. And 5% Swedish and the rest scattered or unreported.
The only other counties with Norwegian percentages comparable to or higher than Day are Marshall (35%. Bush 52-46, borders on Day and Roberts), Deuel (32%. Bush 58-40, also in the northeast), Harding (also 30%. Ironically, Harding was Bush's strongest county in the state, 86-11. Then again, Harding has a tiny population and is in the ranching part of the state, in the northwest corner). There's a large cluster of counties around 20-25%. Nowhere else in the state is more than 4% Polish.

Question answered I guess. At least more or less.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The Rez around here is Lake Traverse Sisseton-Wahpeton, which is so ineffective (very little land in tribal ownership, at least some White presence everywhere on it, etc) as to not be marked on most maps. It's actually fairly large. (The late Floyd Redcrow Westerman was a native. RIP.)

It's majority white actually.

7% is basically too low to provoke a racist voting backlash. 30% is not.

My parents have a friend who used to teach in Sisseton (County seat) and he said it was like teaching two different classes together. If given a choice where to sit kids would segregate themselves and only sit near people of their race, and would refuse to work with kids of another race. Very divided. I understand the town of Sisseton itself is very segregated too.

The Dem swing in the area in 2004 - as well as its Dem tradition itself - is indeed pretty remarkable.

I figured it might have summat to do with ancestry, so I checked...
The state of South Dakota is about 40% German and 15% Norwegian, with Irish, Dakota, English, Dutch, Swedish, French, Czech (in that precise order) as other notable presences.
Day County is about 40% German, 30% Norwegian and 13% Polish, with Irish, Dakota and Swedish (again, in that precise order) as other notable presences.
Roberts is about 35% German, 30% Dakota and 20% Norwegian. And 5% Swedish and the rest scattered or unreported.
The only other counties with Norwegian percentages comparable to or higher than Day are Marshall (35%. Bush 52-46, borders on Day and Roberts), Deuel (32%. Bush 58-40, also in the northeast), Harding (also 30%. Ironically, Harding was Bush's strongest county in the state, 86-11. Then again, Harding has a tiny population and is in the ranching part of the state, in the northwest corner). There's a large cluster of counties around 20-25%. Nowhere else in the state is more than 4% Polish.

Question answered I guess. At least more or less.

Sort of. Might be similar to Steele County, North Dakota.