Smith campaign makes campaign finance filing error

PIERRE, S.D. – A campaign finance filing error by Democrat Jamie Smith’s campaign turned in a debacle for his team.

Monday, Smith submitted his campaign finance report to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office with substantial errors, prompting his Republican opponent Kristi Noem to call for him to be investigated.

According to state law, donors that give over $100 to a campaign must disclose their addresses.

But the report filed by Smith’s team did not have the addresses of any of the individual donors. Further, it mixed in donations from entities, like county parties, with individual donors. Contributions from entities are filed differently than those from individuals.

The error prompted swift backlash from Noem’s campaign, who called for Smith to be investigated.

“If Jamie cannot even follow the most basic requirements of campaign finance law, than how can he be trusted to execute the most basic laws as governor?” asked Ian Fury, Communications Director for the Noem campaign.

Smith called it a clerical error that they were working to correct immediately after it was brought to their attention.

“We had an accounting error, a simple accounting error that has been taken care of already,” Smith explained. “So all the information is there and there is no malfesance whatsoever.”

It is not uncommon for errors to be made when submitting campaign finance reports. It is why state law allows for up to seven days for corrections to be filed before misdemeanor…