PIERRE, S.D. (WNAX) – The Government Operations and Audit Committee of the South Dakota legislature began hearings last week into how the federal CARES Act funding was spent.

Secretary of State Steve Barnett told the committee they used some of their allocation on the June primary election.

Barnett says they wanted to cut down the number of personal contacts needed to vote.

Barnett says they had a good return on the absentee effort.

Barnett says they have almost 100,000 voters that have already applied for an absentee ballot in November.