PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) — South Dakota lawmakers passed a bill in committee today (Friday) to prevent future election signature requirement mix-ups after a candidate was disqualified last year due to confusion over required petition signatures.
Senate Bill 23 would require the Secretary of State’s office to publish signature requirements for political candidates by January 2 each year. Candidates would have two weeks to challenge these numbers if they believe they are incorrect.
“Last year, we unfortunately made a mistake,” Deputy Secretary of State Tom Deadrick told the Senate State Affairs Committee. “We published those numbers on our website, and everybody takes them as gospel, but they’re not.”
The error led to a court case where a candidate was barred from running despite meeting the published requirement. The judge ruled that statutory requirements, not the Secretary of State’s published numbers, were binding.
Some lawmakers expressed concern about the short challenge window. “There were mistakes in the numbers last time,” said one senator. “I’m concerned about setting bad numbers in stone by January 16.”
Despite these concerns, the committee approved the bill 7-2. It now heads to the full Senate.
