The few that did get out and vote this past week in Moody County re-elected State Senator Tom Pischke of Dell Rapids for another two-year term, given there is no challenger for the seat in the November election.
Pischke won with 61% of the vote over his challenger, former State Senator Jordan Youngberg (39%)
Pischke said, after the election, “As with every term, I’ll do my best to protect the constitutional rights of every SD resident. At the forefront of that is property rights, which has been a big issue in recent years.”
Among the issues voters shared the most concern about ahead of this year’s primaries, were the carbon capture pipelines slated to be built by private companies across the state, and through the use of eminent domain if affected property owners do not offer consent for the construction.
More than a dozen legislators running for re-election that supported SB 201 this past session, the so-called Landowners Rights Bill in regard to the pipeline, were ousted in last week’s election. Pischke voted against the bill.
As for the ban of Pischke from the House floor and chambers, it expired at the end of the last session. Pischke said it will not affect his ability to do his job moving forward.

“Since I’m in the Senate and this ban was for the House, this compares to telling a Catholic that he or she couldn’t visit a Luthern church for a week. It was childish behavior on the part of Speaker Hugh Bartels and was then used as a campaign attack. Now that the people of South Dakota have elected fresh new conservative Senators in many of the Districts across the State, I’m looking forward to the Senate actually passing some conservative legislation for a change.”
Youngberg told the Moody County Enterprise that he respects the results of the election and wishes Pischke well this next session, but he’s not necessarily pleased with them.
“My signs got put away and that’s where they will be for two years, but they’re not going in the dumpster. I’m not done yet in state government. I had things to take to Pierre and I won’t have them now but that’s the will of the people and I respect that,” said Youngberg.
He added that the 17% voter turnout statewide and 13% in Moody County is concerning.
“People aren’t going out to vote because they don’t trust the government, and rightfully so. But what happens when people don’t trust us? They don’t engage with the system. And what happens when the opportunity to vote starts to go away. We won’t have that choice.”
Also on the June 4th ballot for voters in Trent was the Trustee position. Kathy Baty won that election with 59% of the total votes cast (45).
Voter turnout for the 2024 Primary in Moody County was 13% according to the South Dakota Secretary of State.
“We are usually a little closer to 20% turnout,” said County Auditor Tawny Heinemann. “So, it was low statewide and locally.
The Post Election Audit will be conducted on Thursday at 10:00 am.
“We did our drawing for precinct and race selection at the Canvas last Thursday,” she said.
“Precinct 4 will be hand counted for audit purposes, and the two races to be double checked are the Democratic Presidential Race and the Republican District 25 Senate race.