Press Release: Voter Defense Association of South Dakota Urges Governor Rhoden to Veto House Bill 1169 Due to “Fatal Flaw”
For Immediate Release
March 20, 2025
Contact:
Quincy Hanzen
Voter Defense Association of South Dakota
(605) 301-0551
info@vdasd.org
PRESS RELEASE:
Voter Defense Association of South Dakota Urges Governor Rhoden to Veto House Bill 1169 Due to “Fatal Flaw”
HB 1169, passed by legislators in Pierre earlier this month, would create “serious legal ambiguity” by establishing local signature requirements for proposed 2026 constitutional ballot initiatives based on election figures that have not been reported by South Dakota election officials
Sioux Falls, SD – On the deadline for South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden’s decision to veto House Bill 1169, the Voter Defense Association of South Dakota has issued the following statement:
“We strongly urge South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden to veto House Bill 1169 due to a fatal flaw in the legislation.
Pursuant to Article 23 of the South Dakota Constitution, the minimum number of petition signatures required to qualify an initiated amendment for the ballot is ten percent of the total statewide votes cast for Governor in the last gubernatorial election.
HB 1169 would establish an additional rule in statute. It would require petition signatures for initiated amendments to be collected from a minimum number of voters in each of South Dakota’s 35 state senate districts. The minimum number of signatures for each state senate district would be equal to five percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the last gubernatorial election.
However, the state did not report the 2022 gubernatorial election results by state senate district. Results were only reported on a precinct and county basis.
Therefore, it is currently impossible to know the exact number of signatures required in each state senate district for a proposed 2026 initiated amendment. This would create a severe and unfair hardship for South Dakotans seeking to exercise their rights under Article 23 of the state constitution.
Furthermore, it is unclear how the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office would evaluate petitions submitted for proposed 2026 initiated amendments given that the 2022 gubernatorial results were never officially reported by legislative district.
Even if this fatal flaw were not present in HB 1169, we would still urge Governor Rhoden to veto the bill due to the fact that, based on conservative estimates, it would be extremely difficult to collect the required number of signatures in all 35 state senate districts in South Dakota.
In fact, HB 1169 would establish the most severe geographic distribution requirement for constitutional ballot initiatives of any state in the entire country.
We believe that HB 1169 not only violates the spirit of Article 23 of the South Dakota Constitution but does so in an ambiguous manner that creates serious legal uncertainty for future initiated amendments.
We are hopeful that Governor Rhoden will stand with the people of South Dakota in defense of their constitutional initiative rights by vetoing HB 1169.”
MEDIA ADVISORY:
Sioux Falls Press Conference Tomorrow (Friday, March 21) at 11:00 a.m
In the event that Governor Rhoden chooses not to veto House Bill 1169, the Voter Defense Association of South Dakota and the League of Women Voters of South Dakota will hold a joint press conference on Friday, March 21 at 11:00 a.m. at the Downtown Library in Sioux Falls to announce the launch of a referendum campaign against the legislation.
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