Sioux Falls Election 2020: Daniel Haggar wins State's Attorney primary

Daniel Haggar won the primary for Minnehaha County State's Attorney. 

Haggar, an assistant attorney for the City of Sioux Falls, took the lead by about 600 votes ahead of current Minnehaha County State's Attorney Crystal Johnson. 

The three candidates for the county's top prosecutor position — Haggar, Johnson and city attorney Paul Bengford — were all Republican. There were no Democratic challengers, putting Haggar unopposed on the November ballot. 

The results came Wednesday evening, more than 24 hours after polls across Minnehaha County closed. 

Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz put a pause on counting ballots for the county just after 1 a.m. Wednesday after he and volunteers who had been working for over 12 hours started to tire. Workers were planning to return to the Old Courthouse Museum to finish the job later Wednesday morning. 

Haggar took the win with 5,920 votes; Johnson came in a close second with 5,376, and Bengford came in at 1,891. 

As of Tuesday morning, the Secretary of State's Office reported that South Dakotans had filed a record 86,906 absentee ballots, which made for a slow day at in-person election sites across Sioux Falls. Boxes of absentee ballots sat uncounted in the corner of the second-floor event room of the Old Courthouse Museum as volunteers powered through the last of the Election Day ballots after 1 a.m. 

Election volunteers were bustling in the Old Courthouse Museum for hours Tuesday into Wednesday, moving, sorting and counting ballots. Some said they had been working since 8:30 a.m. As Litz and other leaders were winding down for the night, they were strategizing on how to reconvene Wednesday morning to get absentee results in as soon as possible. The group began again around 10 a.m. Wednesday and started with city ballots. 

Counting for the Sioux Falls city races, which included council, school board and a number of charter amendments, came to an official close a few hours before the county primary. Sioux Falls City Clerk Tom Greco said he was holding off on finalizing numbers until all the primary absentee envelopes were opened, however, in case any city ballots were inside. 

Lincoln County

Marlene Sweeter, current Lincoln County Auditor, defeated Dan King for District 2 commissioner 644 to 341. Nathan Block defeated Todd Irvine for Precinct Committeeman for Tea 173 to 127. Precinct Committeewoman for Sioux Falls will be Sue Lucas-Peterson, who defeated Robin Arends 123 to 79.