Governor Silences the Voice of Rural South Dakotans

This past Tuesday (March 25, 2025), South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden, a West River Rancher, used his VETO branding iron to silence the voices of rural South Dakotans. HB 1169 would require petition gatherers to obtain at least five percent of the total votes cast in the senatorial district at the last gubernatorial election, provided that the total number of signatures on the petition equals at least ten percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the last gubernatorial election.

A similar bill (HB 1200) was introduced by District 27 Representative Liz May in 2023 and passed the House but was killed by the Senate State Affairs Committee. Two years later, both chambers of the South Dakota Legislature passed HB 1169 to modify the signature gathering requirement for a petition to initiate a constitutional amendment. It was now the governor’s turn to weigh in on the issue. Under his watch, the governor chose to kill the bill and advised the legislature to sustain his veto.

This geographical requirement of gathering signatures from each of the 35 legislative districts in South Dakota would allow people in rural South Dakota a voice when it comes to initiating a proposed constitutional amendment. As many of you may recall, in the 2024 election cycle, there was a slough of Constitutional Amendments, Referred Laws, and Initiated Measures to vote on. HB 1169 would have prevented many of these initiated measures from getting on the ballot by out-of-state special interest groups who pay petitioners to strictly focus on the high density areas of South Dakota including Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, and the two major university areas of Brookings and Vermillion while ignoring the rural areas of South Dakota, specifically on the western half of the state.

HB 1169 would force petitioners to gather signatures for initiated measures to come to the rural areas of South Dakota before it is placed on the ballot. When was the last time you affixed your signature on a state-wide ballot petition for an initiated measure while walking to the courthouse or grocery store in Kadoka, Wall, Martin, Kyle, or New Underwood? That is the point of HB 1169: to give a voice to all South Dakotans before any initiated measure gets on the ballot.

The governor said it was a worthy goal, but was concerned it wouldn’t hold up in court. (See his official response here: https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/Veto/284573.pdf ). However, I am willing to take that chance. I am tired of my voice being silenced by out-of-state special interests who come in and pay petition circulators $15 to $30 per hour to stand outside of the Pennington County Courthouse complex, the Dakota Dome in Vermillion, or the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, to gather signatures for initiated measures to enshrine abortion into our state constitution or do away with the closed primary system and import the California-style jungle primary system into our state constitution.

Under HB 1169, petitioners would be required to gather 315 signatures (5% of the 6,288 total votes cast in the 2022 gubernatorial election in District 27). This would mean that at a minimum 315 registered voters from the Martin, Kadoka, Allen, Long Valley, Kyle, Oglala, Pine Ridge, Porcupine, Belvidere, Wanblee, Wasta, Wall, Quinn, Cottonwood, and New Underwood area would have an opportunity to sign the petition for a proposed initiated measure before it is certified and then put on the November General Election ballot.

Monday, March 31st, is the day when the legislature takes up all bills that are vetoed by the Governor. I encourage you to call before 1 PM CDT the Senate lobby 605-773-3821 (Senator Foster) and the House lobby 605-773-3851 (Representatives May and Pourier) and leave a phone message telling them to override the governor’s veto by voting YES on HB 1169. A 2/3 majority vote in both chambers is needed to override the veto.

NOTE: On February 13, 2025, Representative Liz May voted YES to pass the bill in the House, and Representative Peri Pourier voted NO. Senator Red Dawn Foster, in her usual fashion, was nowhere to be found and had an excused absence when the bill was brought up on the Senate floor for a vote on March 10, 2025.

South Dakota Governor Rhoden Vetoes HB 1169 to Silence the Voice of Rural South Dakotans (Photo Courtesy of Governor's Office).