There are 105 seats up for election this year in South Dakota’s legislature—35 in the Senate and 70 in the House. Thirty-six incumbents (three Democrats and 33 Republicans) are not running for re-election. This is the highest retirement rate since 2016, when 42 incumbents (10 Democrats and 32 Republicans) retired. The average number of retirements each year…
A South Dakota campaign supporting an initiative that would ban the state sales and use tax on groceries submitted signatures to the secretary of state’s office on April 24, 2024. According to Rick Weiland, the co-founder of TakeItBack, the campaign supporting the initiative, about 25,000 signatures were submitted. For the measure to make the ballot…
This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in South Dakota was March 26, 2024. Two candidates are running for South Dakota’s one U.S. House district, including one Democrat and one Republican. That’s the same as the two candidates who ran in 2022, 2020, 2016, and 2014. Four candidates ran in 2018, the only…
South Dakota voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that will allow for the state legislature to establish work requirements for certain individuals to receive Medicaid. The amendment will appear on the November 2024 ballot. The amendment, which was introduced to the state legislature as Senate Joint Resolution 501 (SJR 501), passed the Senate by…
The Republican-led South Dakota Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 501 on January 25, 2024, which would ask voters to weigh in on a proposed constitutional amendment allowing for work requirements in the state’s expanded Medicaid program. South Dakota voters in November 2022 approved a constitutional amendment to expand Medicaid to people who earn up…
South Dakota House Bill 1011, which decreases the state unemployment tax rate for employers by 0.5%, took effect Jan. 1, 2024. The state estimates businesses will save about $18 million in taxes in 2024 under the new law. Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed the bill on Feb. 1, 2023. The state Senate passed the bill…
In 2024, voters in South Dakota will decide on an amendment to make references to officeholders in the state constitution gender-neutral. The amendment would do so by changing male pronouns to specific titles. The South Dakota House of Representatives voted 58-12 to approve the amendment on Feb. 28, 2023. The South Dakota State Senate voted…
On June 9, 2022, South Dakota Secretary of State Steve Barnett (R) announced that an initiated state statute to expand Medicaid will appear on the ballot for November 8. The initiative will appear on the ballot as Initiated Measure 28. This is the third measure to appear on the South Dakota ballot this November, and…
Amendment C was defeated by South Dakota voters on June 7, 2022. With 99.7% of precincts reporting, the ‘No’ vote was at 67.43% (122,387), and the ‘Yes’ vote was at 32.57% (59,111), with a total of 163,014 voting on the amendment. The amendment would have changed the voter requirement threshold for future ballot measures, and…
In South Dakota, one statewide ballot measure will appear on the June 7 primary ballot. Amendment C would change the vote requirement for future ballot measures, and may impact measures appearing on the ballot this November. Amendment C is the only statewide ballot measure that will appear on the June 7 ballot in South Dakota. Currently,…