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not the results that bother us. It's the speed in which we received those results. Minnehaha's returns were the slowest in the state.
• Auditor Bob Litz owes the public an explanation about why his office was the last to finish its count.
• In the past, our county typically has been quick to report its results and close up shop for the night, with one recent exception in 2006 when the voting machines were new and overly sensitive, rejecting ballots that had to be fed through again.
• Voters here usually have known election results before going to bed. This year, final results came in during the wee hours of the morning, after every county in the state was completed. Its 77,000 voters were fewer in number than the last presidential election, in which 81,000 people went to the polls in the county.
• Minnehaha County always has been the largest county, so we can't blame the slow tally on that. We've typically drawn a sizeable number of absentee ballots, too. This year, Minnehaha and Pennington counties both had about 16,000 absentee ballots. The counties differ in that 61,000 people voted at precincts in Minnehaha County, compared with 28,000 in Pennington. But those ballots offered the least trouble in counting.
• Litz says the absentee and military ballots took at least four hours to count after the rest of the ballots were done.
• Pennington County didn't seem to have that problem. Its auditor ran the absentee ballots through the machines early and waited to press the total button after the polls closed. The state's second largest county had final results by 10:30 p.m.
• While we can appreciate how tedious counting election results might be, the amount of time it took Minnehaha County was unacceptably long. We urge Minnehaha County Auditor Bob Litz to improve his processes in the coming elections so county voters once again can be assured of timely results on election night.
• It's something voters have come to expect and should be able to count on.
•

• TEA, S.D. (AP) -- The southeastern South Dakota city of Tea is without a police chief.
• City Councilman Chuck Ortmeier tells KSFY-TV that Chief Brian Ketterhagen and Officer James Klimple resigned on Monday during a closed executive session of the City Council. He wouldn't say why. A telephone listing could not immediately be found for either Ketterhagen or Klimple.
• Mayor John Lawler told the Argus Leader newspaper that the two men resigned for personal reasons. He did not elaborate. Lincoln County State's Attorney Tom

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