Keeping track of South Dakota ballot measures for 2024 election

Here’s a look at the status of South Dakota’s ballot measures for the November 2024 election now that the deadline for signatures has passed:

Seeking certification

Right to abortion

Type: Constitutional amendmentSignatures submitted: 55,000

Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland held a press conference May 1 in Sioux Falls to announce that he was handing in 55,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office that day for his group's abortion amendment.

If successful, the measure would enshrine the right to abortion in the South Dakota Constitution and supersede a 2005 state trigger law that took effect when Roe vs. Wade was overturned. Current state law makes it a Class 6 felony for anyone “who administers to any pregnant female or prescribes or procures for any pregnant female” a means for an abortion, except to save the life of the mother.

The Life Defense Fund also announced May 1 that it intends to challenge the legality of the abortion petition based on the "unlawful and misleading actions" of Weiland and his petition circulators.

Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, one of the state’s leading anti-abortion advocates as co-chair of the Life Defense Fund, has accused Dakotans for Health circulators of leaving petitions unattended and providing misleading information to the public.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley sent a letter to Dakotans for Health on Oct. 31, 2023, that mentioned "video and photographic evidence" of such encounters and warned of potentially illegal actions taken by petition circulators.

Jackley said that his letter was based on "complaints and concerns raised during the petition process" and that violations, if proven, could play a role in the Secretary of State's petition certification process.

Open primaries

Type: Constitutional amendmentSignatures submitted: 46,500

Joe Kirby of South Dakota Open Primaries told News Watch that his group handed in signatures May 6 and that he is "not worried at all" about certification.

"We know the process and we've got more than enough valid signatures," he said.

Approval of this amendment would establish “top-two” primaries for governor, Congress and state legislative and county races rather than having parties hold separate primary contests. The two candidates who get the most votes would advance to the general election, regardless of party.

The theory is that open primaries, rather than incentivizing candidates from taking extreme positions to win a partisan primary, will help lower the volume to produce officeholders more reflective of the general electorate. This comes at a time when far-right factions such as the South Dakota Freedom Caucus have gained more traction within the Republican ranks.

All registered voters would be eligible to weigh in on which candidates advance to the general election. Currently, Independent voters in South Dakota can vote in Democratic primaries but not Republican contests.

Kirby pointed to the 2026 South Dakota gubernatorial primary as an example of how an open primary could be a "good mix of Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Libertarians on the primary ballot."

Freedom Caucus chairman Aaron Aylward, a state representative from Harrisburg, told News Watch that the proposal would essentially create "two general elections in South Dakota" and thus was unnecessary.

Recreational marijuana

Type: Initiated measureSignatures submitted: 29,030

There was a late surge of signature collection from South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws, which also helped put the issue on the ballot in 2020 and 2022. The effort got a late start due to concerns about funding and didn't really hit its stride with paid circulators until February.

"I think it would have been a mistake to launch a signature drive without knowing we had the resources to do it properly," said campaign director Matthew Schweich.

If the recreational marijuana measure makes the ballot, the campaign will have to grapple with possible voter fatigue on an issue that will be put before South Dakota voters for a third consecutive statewide election.

In 2020, pro-legalization Amendment A passed with 54% of the vote, clearing the way for recreational marijuana to be implemented in the state. Medicinal pot was also approved by voters that year in an initiated measure.

Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration challenged the recreational marijuana amendment, saying it violated the state’s requirement that constitutional amendments deal with just one subject. That argument prevailed in a 4-1 decision at the South Dakota Supreme Court.

Supporters tried to pass recreational cannabis again in 2022, and South Dakotans rejected that effort, sending Initiated Measure 27 to defeat with 53% of voters against it.

Schweich acknowledges making a political miscalculation by going back to the issue in 2022 rather than "taking a breather" and waiting for 2024, a presidential election year with higher voter turnout than midterms.

Grocery tax repeal

Type: Initiated measureSignatures submitted: 25,000

Dakotans for Health submitted 25,000 signatures on April 24 for a measure to prohibit the state from collecting sales tax on "anything sold for human consumption, except alcoholic beverages and prepared food."

Weiland's Take It Back initiative is also involved with the effort, which has public support from the South Dakota State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

A statewide poll in November 2023 co-sponsored by South Dakota News Watch showed that 61% of registered voters support the proposal, which would eliminate the 4.2% state sales tax on groceries. The measure would not affect the up to 2% sales tax on groceries charged by South Dakota municipalities.

The proposal was staunchly opposed by the Republican-dominated Legislature, which approved a cut in the state’s general sales tax rate from 4.5% to 4.2% during the 2023 session that's due to expire in 2027.

The fiscal note for the grocery tax measure indicates it could reduce annual state sales tax receipts by $124 million. Opponents said that could stress the state's budget when combined with the rate change on general sales tax.

Weiland notes that Noem promised a grocery tax cut as part of her 2022 re-election campaign, a plan ultimately rejected by lawmakers.

Qualified for ballot

Work requirement for Medicaid

Type: Constitutional amendment (from Legislature)

Legislators passed this Senate Joint Resolution during the 2024 session, an effort to amend the constitution to impose work requirements for Medicaid eligibility.

Supporters want to add a work requirement for adults who are not physically or mentally disabled but who are eligible for Medicaid under the expansion of the government-sponsored program that South Dakota voters approved in 2022. The move would still need to be approved by the federal government.

Opponents frame it as a rebuke of the will of voters and cite the state's 2.1% unemployment rate, which ranks second-lowest in the nation. "Who is on Medicaid and is not working? I can answer that for you, it’s the poorest of the poor,” said Democratic state Rep. Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls.

References to government officials

Type: Constitutional amendment (from Legislature)

This is a Senate Joint Resolution from the 2023 session that proposes to change outdated male-only references to South Dakota’s governor and other officials in the state constitution and statutes. It's a procedural update in language that is not expected to draw much opposition.

This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit news organization. Read more in-depth stories at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they're published. Contact Stu Whitney at stu.whitney@sdnewswatch.org.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Keeping track of South Dakota ballot measures for 2024 election