Current:Home > Scams‘Top two’ primary election measure makes South Dakota’s November ballot-InfoLens
‘Top two’ primary election measure makes South Dakota’s November ballot
View Date:2024-12-23 14:29:28
Voters in Republican-majority South Dakota will decide this fall whether to abandon partisan primaries and make contests open to all candidates regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote-getters in each race would then face off in general elections.
Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s office said Tuesday that it has certified the proposed constitutional amendment for the November ballot. The South Dakota Open Primaries group submitted the necessary petition signatures earlier this month.
Other initiatives that will appear on the ballot include measures to protect abortion rights and to repeal the state grocery tax. A measure awaiting validation would legalize recreational marijuana.
The state’s candidates in gubernatorial, congressional, legislative and county races currently compete in partisan primaries. If voters approve it, the amendment would have them compete in a unified primary instead.
“Today, almost 150,000 South Dakotans who are independent or unaffiliated voters have almost no say and are shut out of taxpayer-funded primary elections. It’s just flat wrong,” sponsor Joe Kirby said in a statement on Tuesday.
“That’s why we’re so excited to be bringing forward this simple reform to make sure all registered voters have a voice in who leads our state. We need to let all voters vote,” Kirby said.
Other states such as California, Louisiana and Washington already have their own versions of open primaries. A similar South Dakota measure failed in 2016.
South Dakota’s GOP chairman, state Sen. John Wiik, has been opposed, saying he sees “no good coming out of it for the Republican Party.”
Democratic Party Executive Director Dan Ahlers has said the party hasn’t taken a position, but already allows “no party affiliation” and independent voters to participate in its primary, along with registered Democrats.
South Dakota’s registered voters include 304,000 Republicans, 144,000 Democrats and nearly 150,000 others who identify as “no party affiliation” or independent, according to online voter registration tracking.
Republicans control South Dakota’s Legislature and hold all statewide elected offices and congressional seats. Democrats haven’t won a statewide election since 2008, when voters reelected Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin to their last terms in Congress.
veryGood! (95335)
Related
- Taking stock of bonds: Does the 60/40 rule still have a role in retirement savings?
- Gunman who wounded a man before fleeing into the subway is arrested, New York City police say
- Judge says New York can’t use ‘antiquated, unconstitutional’ law to block migrant buses from Texas
- How Kristin Chenoweth Encouraged Ariana Grade to Make Wicked Her Own
- Suspect arrested after deadly Tuskegee University homecoming shooting
- 3 arrested on charges of elder abuse, Medicaid fraud in separate Arkansas cases
- Democrat April McClain Delaney wins a US House seat in a competitive Maryland race
- Why Ariana Grande’s Brother Frankie Grande Broke Down in Tears Over Her Wicked Casting
- Zendaya Shares When She Feels Extra Safe With Boyfriend Tom Holland
- Democratic US Sen. Jacky Rosen is reelected in Nevada, securing battleground seat
Ranking
- The Daily Money: Markets react to Election 2024
- The Boy Scouts inspired Norman Rockwell. His works will now help pay abuse survivors
- 10 people stabbed in less than 2 days in Seattle, with 5 wounded Friday; suspect in custody
- A list of mass killings in the United States this year
- Voters in California city reject measure allowing noncitizens to vote in local races
- Why Wicked’s Marissa Bode Wants Her Casting to Set A New Precedent in Hollywood
- 5 wounded in shooting at Virginia restaurant
- Watch as Rockefeller Christmas tree begins journey to NYC: Here's where it's coming from
Recommendation
-
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor to step down at end of academic year
-
Zoë Kravitz Joins Taylor Swift for Stylish NYC Dinner After Channing Tatum Split
-
Pete Holmes, Judy Greer on their tears and nerves before 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever'
-
Trump made gains in heavily Hispanic areas all over the map. Here’s how he did it
-
South Carolina lab recaptures 5 more escaped monkeys but 13 are still loose
-
Meet Chloe East, the breakout star of new religious horror movie 'Heretic' with Hugh Grant
-
Democracy was a motivating factor both Harris and Trump voters, but for very different reasons
-
'My husband was dying right in front of me': Groom suffers brain injury in honeymoon fall