Procedural ruling sinks lawsuit over voting records

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An election integrity group can’t prevail in a new lawsuit seeking voting records because the matter was already substantially litigated in a prior lawsuit, a Minnehaha County judge ruled Friday.

Judge Douglas Hoffman ruled against South Dakota Canvassing Group, which is seeking the release of certain records related to electronic voting machines. During the one-hour hearing, Hoffman challenged South Dakota Canvassing’s lawyer, Steve Haugaard, to convince him why the latest lawsuit shouldn’t be dismissed based on res judicata – the legal doctrine that something can’t be re-litigated once it’s been judged on its merits.

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The loss on procedural grounds prevented Haugaard and South Dakota Canvassing Group from presenting evidence or witnesses about why the records they are seeking can be released under South Dakota public record laws.

The first lawsuit, which was an appeal of an Office of Hearing Examiner decision, was dismissed in June. While that legal challenge was ongoing, South Dakota Canvassing Group made another request for voting machine records. That request ultimately made it to Hoffman’s courtroom Friday.

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