On November 23, 2022, South Dakota Searchlight published Incoming Secretary of State looks to hand-count ballots, audit each election, an article which appeared on November 29 in States Newsroom sibling Minnesota EReformer as South Dakota’s new secretary of state has ties to vocal Minnesota election denier.
Rick Weible, that vocal Minnesota election denier, is once again speaking about election integrity in Minnesota, in events sponsored by Republican BPOUs. On May 15, his Central Minnesota Election Summit in Milaca was sponsored by Kanabec County Republicans. On May 20, it was a Master Class in Election Integrity, sponsored by the Senate District 34 Republicans.
On June 21, he'll be speaking at the St. Augusta American Legion, the featured guest of Minnesota Republican Senate Districts 13 and 14.
Here's the section of the "master class" when Weible speaks about his creation of Monae Johnson's SD Republican convention endorsement victory over incumbent Steve Barnett and her severing ties with him and his wife--who was campaign manager. Weible says that SOS-elect Monae Johnson sent the Weibles packing on November 23, 2022:
Weible was on the Lindell Report on May 23, 2023 (Georgia, Minnesota, South Dakota and California Election Crime Bureau Update 48:43--58:00) and May 24, 2023 (Mike Lindell Warned Us: Microsoft Now Warn Chinese State-Sponsored Hackers Have Compromised “Critical” Cyber Infrastructure).
His Midwest Swamp Watch website now includes posts about "South Dakota Evidence."
He concludes in a PDF that South Dakota is a banana republic.
Who is Rick Weible?
While Weible has graced the pages of Bluestem Prairie in the past, we recommend Deena Winter's profile in The big lie goes on tour in Minnesota:
Small town mayor becomes an elections expert
. . . leaves the “figuring out” to people like Rick Weible, who took the Monticello stage after Keshel, quickly noting that he wears glasses.
“Yeah, I’m that guy,” he said. “I’m a geek. I’m a nerd.”
The former mayor of St. Bonifacius, Minn., Weible has been posting YouTube videos for about a year — he calls it Midwest SwampWatch — laying out election fraud claims in Minnesota.
Weible claims 39% of ballots cast in Minnesota in 2020 can’t be “connected” to registered voters — including 700,000 absentee ballots. In Dakota County, for example, 666 ballots aren’t “connected” to voters, he said.
He’s trying to track the total number of voters with a list of registered voters and their voting histories — which campaigns and political groups use to target voters.
[Max]Hailperin said Weible is simply unaware of how the voter file works.
The list of registered voters doesn’t include people who ask to be omitted, or people who have died or moved since the election. It’s not possible for private citizens to match ballots with voters, Hailperin said, especially when counties have six weeks after the election to update the voter histories, and they can get extensions.
Hailperin allowed that it’s reasonable for Weible to ask why some counties were so slow to post voter histories, perhaps because they didn’t have the staff or resources. He added, however, that the voter history file has never been a complete list, nor does it instantly come into existence the day the election is over.
Weible disagreed, saying the two databases should match up.
Hailpersin also said he reached out to Weible and has spoken to him at length, telling him he misunderstands the system. Weible is still doing presentations on what Hailperin calls the “dog and pony show circuit.”
“Weible knows a fair bit, but he also is missing lots of pieces and he is more than happy to blow through what might be stop signs,” Hailperin said. “I think the real thing is just that he’s a very committed believer that our government ought to be in different hands.”
Pushing elected officials, including sheriffs, for action
Weible said he’s done more than 20 such presentations since January 2021. He said they’ve gone from being “data-driven” to “action-oriented,” because the Republican Party’s official apparatus won’t take action.
An estimated 400 people attended the Brainerd event, and surely contributed to a groundswell of conservatives who urged Crow Wing County officials for months to look into unspecified fraud. The county board voted Jan. 4 to call for a “full forensic audit” of the 2020 election — even though Trump won the county by 30 points.
The secretary of state denied their request. As required by law, county administrators conducted post-election reviews and found no significant irregularities.
They’re targeting other counties, too. Weible said they’re bringing their fraud claims to sheriffs in Wright, Sherburne, Anoka, Dakota and Crow Wing counties. Keshel lists Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Saint Louis and Wright counties among the “top 100 worst counties” for “abnormal trends” in the 2020 election. . .
As for Weible's standing among South Dakota Republicans, there's not a lot of chatter about him, though he does seem to show up. At liberal blog South Dakota News Watch, Cory Allen Heidelberger reported in SB 40 Gets Bigger, Puts More Statewide Offices on Primary Ballot, Over Misdirected Anti-Democratic Whackdoodle Opposition:
Republican whackadoodles showed up in Pierre yesterday to oppose Senate Bill 40, the party elites’ plan to remove lieutenant governor, attorney general, and secretary of state from the convention nomination process. The party elites responded by amending SB 40 to remove all statewide elected officials from the convention nomination process.
Senate Bill 40 is one of those curious bills in which Republicans are proposing a good democratic reform. Right now, South Dakota’s parties nominate their candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, commissioner of school and public lands, and the three public utilities commissioner seats at their midterm-election year conventions. That means candidates for these statewide offices are chosen by a group of hyperpartisan delegates smaller than the number of people who have to sign nominating petitions to place candidates for governor or Congress on the ballot. It should be easier for party elites to control its convention than a primary election, but Republicans have found the fringe radicals whom it invites into its tent to bring otherwise disengaged Trumpists to the polls don’t listen very well and upset the nomination process by picking unqualified radical candidates instead of the elites’ favorites. . . .
But radical Minnesota immigrant and election conspiracy theorist Rick Weible (who helped make radical election denier Monae Johnson Secretary of State) and radical racist West River preacher Matthew Monfore don’t like elections or democracy, so they called in to Senate State Affairs yesterday morning to testify against SB 40. Weible said SB 40 doesn’t help the grassroots because the candidates for lower statewide offices can’t raise as much money as the top-tier candidates. Weible then got sidetracked revisiting the campaign tactics Weible used to help Johnson beat incumbent Steve Barnett at last summer’s convention, and the committee redirected him to address SB 40 itself. Reminding the Republicans of all the slime he threw at their favorite son Steve Barnett probably wasn’t the wisest tactic, but when given the opportunity to talk more about SB 40 itself, Weible first elbows his mute button, then upon figuring out his error, simply closed his testimony. . . .
Later the same day, Heidelberger posted in Legislative Term Limits Die on First Contact with Committee:
In more feckless whackdoodlery, Senator Brent Hoffman (R-9/Sioux Falls) and election conspiracy theorist Rick Weible tried to persuade Senate State Affairs to put stricter Legislative term limits to a vote. Senate State Affairs declined . .
Election denier Weible called in from Elkton to ditto Hoffman and say term limits represent the “populist” approach. I’m still trying to figure out how passing arbitrary laws to tell people for whom they can vote represents a “populist” approach.
At the Republican blog, South War College, there's this in the April 23, 2023 post, A few notes from the Brookings/Moody County Lincoln Day Dinner. The niceties, and what was that?:
I did notice an ad in the program for a new group that drew my attention....
It was an ad for the “Save Brookings” political action committee, with the ad letting everyone know that they are going to be endorsing candidates that support the Republican platform. At least the platform according to them.
I hadn’t heard of this group before, so who is behind it?
According to the Secretary of State, apparently this group was set up by Rick Weible of Elkton earlier this month to “support conservative issues and candidates in Brookings South Dakota.” We’ll see how long this lasts. Maybe someone can explain why we need a recent Minnesota transplant to Elkton to save Brookings? Or, why would I send money to Elkton to save Brookings?
Have you been to Elkton? I’ve been to Elkton. I think Elkton could use a little saving before the home of the State’s largest university does. But that’s just me. . . .
Before that, there was Senate defeats ‘election integrity’ and Pillow Guy symposium measures designed to disenfranchise voters. – South Dakota War College:
. . .Schoenbeck, the Senate President Pro Tempore, aimed his comments at Rick Weible, Jessica Pollema and others who call themselves the South Dakota Canvassing Group. The group played a role in Tripp County decision to hand count ballots for the 2022 election. . . .
Jeepers. Concurrent scorn across South Dakota's spectrum.
The conservative blog's first mention? January 11, 2022's Fringe group hosting event claiming widespread voter fraud in South Dakota. Despite no indication of fraud:
Saw this event pop up on Facebook today.. Which is kind of a “wtf” thing, because no one has ever heard of this group, and no one has heard of widespread voter fraud in the state:
Midwest Swamp Watch is a website being run by Rick Weible of Elkton, SD, a former Minnesota Mayor, and apparently has been on the internet making claims about widespread voter fraud in Minnesota. And now, he’s trying to sell the same sort of snake oil in South Dakota claiming that apparently there are “statewide anomalies and fraud,” similar to what the pillow guy was trying to sell in Sioux Falls this summer.
The event is being hosted by “Brookings Area Patriot Ripple Effect,” which may be an offshoot of Dave Roetman’s group in Sioux Falls.
Clearly, they’re new, and goofy election conspiracies are on their menu.
The problem is..no one has ever heard of these election conspiracies before. And it makes it even more challenging that South Dakota uses physical paper ballots, as well as canvassing the election results after the election day vote as a “double check.” Has anyone ever heard of this evidence ever being presented to a county auditor? Or the Secretary of State? As in the people in charge of the elections? How about county State’s Attorneys or the Attorney General?
Of course not. Because these kind of conspiracy theories reside on the internet. Not in places where fraud is actually investigated. Because the claims just don’t seem to hang around all that long when closely examined.
I’m not sure what you do with that.
It appears that South Dakota Republicans have done something different than Minnesota Republicans when it comes to Weible. Draw your own conclusions.
Related posts
- Election deniers appointed to Minnesota House Elections Finance & Policy committee
- SD Searchlight: Incoming Secretary of State looks to hand-count ballots, audit each election
- Crockett and crew share curious definition of "common sense" at Pine Island rally
- Ben Davis, Master of Ceremonies for Dec 2021 'Searching For Truth' event, GOP endorsed in 6A
- Westrom wouldn't talk to local reporter about why he attended sketchy election fraud event
Photo: Rick Weible addressed the Sherburne County Board of Commissioners in Elk River on July 12,2022. He said the group he founded, “Midwest Swamp Watch,” has talked with 25 Minnesota counties and claimed their voting equipment is either insecure or improperly upgraded. Creator: Elizabeth Flores | Credit: Star Tribune. From ‘FEELS LIKE IT’S A WHACK-A-MOLE’ Minnesota election officials on misinformation front lines.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments