MINNEHAHA COUNTY — South Dakota state senator Tom Pischke was charged with two felonies on Tuesday for allegedly submitting fake nominating forms to place candidates on the primary election ballot without their knowledge. He turned himself in and was arrested and booked into the Minnehaha County Jail, before being released on his own recognizance.

The charges are linked to 16 fraudulent nominating forms for precinct committeeman and committeewoman positions, according to a Minnehaha County Sheriff's office report. These positions have a vote at county party meetings and allow members to be delegates at the state GOP convention, where they vote on general election nominees for various constitutional offices.

Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson stated that none of the candidates tied to the case appeared on the June 2 primary ballot. The questionable nomination forms arrived on March 30, one day before the deadline to appear on the ballot. Anderson stated that most individuals contacted "did not know what the form was for."

Anderson compared signatures from 15 of the 16 purported candidates to other documents bearing their signatures. Anderson stated that "none of the signatures matched the suspected fraudulent forms." A detective spoke with each person for whom a form had been filed. Twelve told the detective they had no idea their name had appeared on such a form, while one individual stated Pischke had asked them to run but they declined. Three individuals told the detective they had wanted to run and that Pischke had urged them to do so.

Court documents state that when a detective approached Pischke, he denied signing the forms. He said he would not expect his DNA or fingerprints to appear on the forms, but he consented to the collection of a DNA sample. The South Dakota Forensic Lab analyzed the envelopes and found DNA from three people, with the "major contributor" being "consistent" with Pischke.

Detectives obtained video footage of a vehicle dropping something off at the Dell Rapids Post office. Court documents state the video showed the driver's hand but was not clear enough to show what was placed in the box. The video did show three numbers on the vehicle's license plate, its make, model, and approximate year. The vehicle in the video was identified as a 2000-2005 Chevy Impala, which was registered to Pischke. Only one Chevy Impala in South Dakota of that vintage has a license plate number bearing the three characters seen in the video.

Korry Peterson, chairman of the Minnehaha County Republican Party, stated he had known about the investigation for months and heard rumors about Pischke's involvement. Peterson stated he had clashed with Pischke over the county party's direction. Pischke faces up to four years in prison if convicted on both counts of offering a false or forged instrument for filing.