Recap of the Secretary of State’s May 7, 2024 Press Release
The deadline for submitting signed petitions to the state was May 7, 2024. Four of the nine initiatives approved for circulation by the South Dakota Secretary of State have submitted their signatures for review. The following table was included in a press release from the Secretary of State’s office:
The table above shows the date and time the signatures were received, the estimated petition sheets for each initiative, and the estimated signatures submitted. Across the four initiatives, it is estimated that 155,530 signatures were collected during the 2022-2024 cycle.
Each initiative will be reviewed individually in the order in which they were submitted to the Secretary of State’s office. State officials will draw a random sample of signatures from the petitions and assess the validity rate of that sample (by checking the voter registration status of each signer in the sample). That validity rate is then applied to the overall number of signatures contained in the petitions to determine whether the petitions contain enough valid signatures to secure ballot qualification.
To qualify for the ballot, 17,508 valid signatures are required for an Initiated Measure and 35,017 for a Constitutional Amendment. Upon completion of the random sample, the Secretary of State’s office has five days to notify the sponsors of the results (South Dakota Codified Law 2-1-17).
The random sampling process of the petitions is governed by: South Dakota Codified Law (“SDCL”) 2-1-16, SDCL 2-1-17, and South Dakota Administrative Rule (“SDAR”) 5:02:08:00.05
Overview of the Random Sampling Process
Each petition sheet is numbered in consecutive order
A spreadsheet is created that lists each petition sheet number in a column and the number of eligible signatures in a separate column
An eligible signature is defined as “A signature line that is filled in partially or completely. If a signature line is empty or crossed out, said signature line is not included as an eligible signature. A signature line containing an abstract mark or markings shall be counted as an eligible signature.”
The following table is used to determine how many signatures are randomly sampled from each initiative in order to meet the statutory requirement:
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|
|||
|
Sample Size |
Signatures Submitted |
"Safe Harbor" Sample Size |
Sample size % of total |
|
694 |
13,871 |
699 |
5.0032% |
|
699 |
15,000 |
701 |
4.6600% |
|
701 |
16,000 |
703 |
4.3813% |
|
703 |
17,000 |
704 |
4.1353% |
|
704 |
18,000 |
706 |
3.9111% |
|
706 |
19,000 |
707 |
3.7158% |
|
707 |
20,000 |
708 |
3.5350% |
|
708 |
21,000 |
709 |
3.3714% |
|
709 |
22,000 |
710 |
3.2227% |
|
710 |
23,000 |
711 |
3.0870% |
|
711 |
24,000 |
712 |
2.9625% |
|
712 |
25,000 |
713 |
2.8480% |
|
713 |
26,000 |
714 |
2.7423% |
|
714 |
27,000 |
714 |
2.6444% |
|
714 |
28,000 |
715 |
2.5500% |
|
715 |
29,000 |
715 |
2.4655% |
|
715 |
30,000 |
716 |
2.3833% |
|
716 |
31,000 |
716 |
2.3097% |
|
716 |
32,000 |
717 |
2.2375% |
|
717 |
33,000 |
717 |
2.1727% |
|
717 |
34,000 |
718 |
2.1088% |
|
718 |
35,000 |
718 |
2.0514% |
|
718 |
36,000 |
719 |
1.9944% |
|
719 |
37,000 |
719 |
1.9432% |
|
719 |
38,000 |
719 |
1.8921% |
|
719 |
39,000 |
720 |
1.8436% |
|
720 |
40,000 |
720 |
1.8000% |
|
720 |
41,000 |
720 |
1.7561% |
|
720 |
42,000 |
721 |
1.7143% |
|
721 |
43,000 |
721 |
1.6767% |
|
721 |
44,000 |
721 |
1.6386% |
|
721 |
45,000 |
721 |
1.6022% |
|
721 |
46,000 |
722 |
1.5674% |
|
722 |
47,000 |
722 |
1.5362% |
|
722 |
48,000 |
722 |
1.5042% |
|
722 |
49,000 |
722 |
1.4735% |
|
722 |
50,000 |
723 |
1.4440% |
|
723 |
51,000 |
723 |
1.4176% |
|
723 |
52,000 |
723 |
1.3904% |
|
723 |
53,000 |
723 |
1.3642% |
|
723 |
54,000 |
723 |
1.3389% |
|
723 |
55,000 |
723 |
1.3145% |
|
723 |
56,000 |
724 |
1.2911% |
|
724 |
57,000 |
724 |
1.2702% |
|
724 |
58,000 |
724 |
1.2483% |
|
724 |
59,000 |
724 |
1.2271% |
|
724 |
60,000 |
724 |
1.2067% |
|
724 |
61,000 |
724 |
1.1869% |
|
724 |
62,000 |
724 |
1.1677% |
|
724 |
63,000 |
725 |
1.1492% |
|
725 |
64,000 |
725 |
1.1328% |
|
725 |
65,000 |
725 |
1.1154% |
|
725 |
66,000 |
725 |
1.0985% |
|
725 |
67,000 |
725 |
1.0821% |
|
725 |
68,000 |
725 |
1.0662% |
|
725 |
69,000 |
725 |
1.0507% |
|
725 |
70,000 |
725 |
1.0357% |
|
725 |
71,000 |
726 |
1.0211% |
|
726 |
72,000 |
726 |
1.0083% |
|
726 |
73,000 |
726 |
0.9945% |
|
726 |
74,000 |
726 |
0.9811% |
|
726 |
75,000 |
726 |
0.9680% |
|
726 |
76,000 |
726 |
0.9553% |
|
726 |
77,000 |
726 |
0.9429% |
|
726 |
78,000 |
726 |
0.9308% |
|
726 |
79,000 |
726 |
0.9190% |
|
726 |
80,000 |
726 |
0.9075% |
|
726 |
81,000 |
726 |
0.8963% |
|
726 |
82,000 |
726 |
0.8854% |
|
726 |
83,000 |
727 |
0.8747% |
|
727 |
84,000 |
727 |
0.8655% |
|
727 |
85,000 |
727 |
0.8553% |