Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, March 24
Postpone city elections to make them fair and safe
From a broader perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic threatening our nation, the question of whether to postpone a local city council election looks like small potatoes. Same goes for the rapidly approaching deadline for legislative candidates to submit their nominating petitions. Most would say there are more pressing matters to worry about.
The logistical challenges we face in the months ahead are indeed immense. The early lack of testing kits and the means to process them has hindered our capacity to base public health efforts on accurate counts of novel coronavirus cases, whether in South Dakota or the entire United States. We watch Italy and see how things might play out here, a society and its systems overwhelmed, a sluggish national response limiting the ability to “flatten the curve.”
Given the depth of apprehension about our future, it is imperative that we be able to trust in the integrity of our elections. The last thing a restive population already under a heavy cloud of uncertainty needs is to doubt whether our representatives have gained – or maintained – their positions fairly.
The Sioux Falls City Council election is scheduled for April 14, just a few weeks away. In separate letters to Gov. Kristi Noem, council chair Marshall Sellberg and city clerk Tom Greco urged the governor to delay the local election until the June 2 state primary date. Greco pointed out that at least 80% of poll workers are above age 80, putting them at high risk during the coronavirus crisis.
Councilor Christine Erickson also questioned how the traditional Election Day process would work.
“How can we justify telling everyone to stay home – but don’t forget to vote?” she asked.
It’s a perfectly reasonable question that needs to be answered soon.
Some precinct locations have already been pulled from the list of polling places, including a retirement community and a fire station. It’s unthinkable that we should follow our traditional in-person voting paradigm when everything experts know about COVID-19 indicates that we would likely be putting our community at risk.
We don’t want to experience the kind of last-minute electoral chaos seen in Ohio last week, where disputes between the governor and courts kept the status of the state’s presidential primary election in limbo until just before polls were set to open. Though some states went ahead with their in-person primaries, others have opted to postpone.
The federal government, like the city of Sioux Falls, has limited the size of public gatherings. Crafting a sensibly planned alternative to in-person polls as we approach a period of ramped-up virus transmission seems the most prudent course. Sioux Falls voters can cast absentee ballots in the council election beginning March 30. If mailing in is to be the only way they can vote, the groundwork needs to be laid without delay.
South Dakota Secretary of State Steven Barnett has said that state law does not allow election dates to be changed. That message seemed to contradict what Noem said a day earlier: that there have been conversations about suspending or delaying the election through emergency legislation when lawmakers return to Pierre for veto day, if that doesn’t itself get delayed.
House Majority Leader Lee Qualm told the Argus Leader that the legislature isn’t planning to make any changes to either the deadline for nominating petitions or the June 2 primary date. That presents a potentially dangerous hurdle for state legislative candidates gathering the necessary number of signatures to be on the ballot, as well as for potential Democratic challengers to U.S. Senator Mike Rounds and U.S. Congressman Dusty Johnson.
There are examples we could follow regarding nominating petitions and COVID-19. Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order that cut the number of required signatures for primary ballot qualification by 70% and suspended the candidate petition process. The leader of the New York Republican Party endorsed the Democratic governor’s order, explicitly setting aside partisanship in the interest of public health.
Individual states dictate the way elections happen within their borders, even those at the federal level. How effectively – and honorably – smaller elections are dealt with in this time defined by a new contagion will signal to voters how effectively and honorably they can expect November’s general election to be administered.
Every challenge, even a generational one like COVID-19, presents opportunities to improve upon what came before. We urge South Dakota’s political leaders to resist their hardwired intransigence and commit to shepherding us through these trials with forethought, soberness and flexibility.
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Madison Daily Leader, March 25
Being creative in reaching seniors
The most vulnerable in our population to the coronavirus are those who have other health issues and the elderly. Many senior citizens check both boxes.
So extra precautions are being taken to prevent those living in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and retirement centers from contracting the illness. We applaud the efforts of all those who are going to extraordinary measures to protect this part of our population.
We’ve all read the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations: hand-washing, social distancing, staying home if you are sick, and so on. The CDC’s recommendations for senior communities are the same, plus isolation: Keep all visitors out, keep residents in their rooms, no communal activities.
This can be hard on seniors, so let’s be creative in how we reach them during this extraordinary time.
Frequent phone calls are extremely valuable, except for the hard of hearing. Texting or posting messages often can help. Especially useful are FaceTime or Skype where the senior can see your face.
Delivering “care packages” can be tricky, because we don’t want the virus to be transmitted on a hard surface. However, sending them by mail or other means is said to be better than delivering in person, because the day or two in transit permits the virus to die.
Here’s another bold idea: personal letters. Long-lost in the era of texts, emails and posts, letters have a personal quality that many people appreciate, such as handwriting. The CDC states the likelihood of the virus lingering on mail is very low.
Let’s try to help the seniors by whatever method works for them. We can all be great helpers to them during this time.
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Aberdeen American News, March 28
How many deaths constitute an emergency?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but you need to stay home unless leaving is unavoidable.
There are a lot of jobs that can’t be done from home, of course. Health care workers have to go in. And the people who work to keep the shelves stocked at grocery stores. And folks who work the counter at convenience stores. And construction workers. Police officers. First responders. Firefighters. There are others, but you get the idea. Our thanks to all of them.
But those of us who can should work from home. It’s both the responsible thing to do.
That’s where the easy work ends.
Some people think the COVID-19 response is overblown or that there’s a sense of hysteria. Both definitions can vary from person to person, so let’s crunch some numbers and see what they reveal.
There are just north of 39,000 residents in Brown County, according to the latest census estimates. And Gov. Kristi Noem says roughly 30% of the population will catch the virus. That’s on the low side of many estimates, but let’s use it, assuming it makes sense given the rural nature of South Dakota.
Thirty percent of 39,000 is 11,700. So we can expect that many of our friends and neighbors in Brown County to catch COVID-19, though many cases will likely never be confirmed because not everybody will be tested.
The vast majority of those 11,700 people will display mild or even no symptoms. But what about the others?
The virus’ death rate fluctuates wildly depending on age and even from country to country. It’s fluid and probably will remain that way since we’re talking about a novel virus without a reliable track record. Given that northeast South Dakota’s population is older and the death rate is considerably higher for senior citizens, we’re probably not going to be at 1.5% or so, which has been where the nation at large has been hovering recently. Hopefully we don’t remotely approach the 10%-plus death rate of Italy, which also seems unlikely.
For the sake of picking a smaller number, let’s use 2.5%. At that rate, 293 Brown County residents would die from the virus.
Spread across South Dakota, that’s 6,617 residents.
Will you know some of them? Be related to them? Live with them?
Does that constitute a crisis? An emergency?
Does it spark hysteria? That’s a personal decision.
Here’s something that won’t happen. The virus won’t back down in the U.S. like a loud-mouthed foreign leader might after butting heads with the president. COVID-19 doesn’t respond like that.
Knowing that, taking action to protect people is necessary. The ordinance being considered by the Aberdeen City Council to restrict public gatherings of 10 or more people and require social distancing of at least 6 feet is a no-brainer. If you disagree with that, your attitude is approaching or beyond willful ignorance.
Requiring the closure of businesses that serve food and beverages or host entertainment options is obviously dicier. But that doesn’t mean it should be automatically dismissed. We all know folks who own and work at such businesses, independent and locally owned versions of which are scattered throughout our communities. They are powered by the tireless work of people we care for, love and support.
There’s no corporate executive who is going to make the tough call for those locally owned businesses. And there’s no corporate financial assistance to tap.
Even so, the council is right to consider a measure that would close such businesses temporarily.
It’s easy to say stay home so you aren’t exposed to COVID-19. But just as small businesses are at risk, so too are people who have respiratory illnesses or cancer or compromised immune systems. So too are senior citizens and pregnant women. They also need protection. They can care for themselves to a certain extent. But many, at minimum, need to go to stores for supplies and will interact with others when they do. What places have those other people been?
Ignoring, dismissing or downplaying what could happen is a disservice.
The debate about forcing businesses to close in Aberdeen is only days away. It’s vital and will have far-ranging consequences.
Lives are on the line - potentially the lives of 6,600 South Dakotans.
How many might you know?
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