Rhoden Threatening Voting Access in South Dakota

PIERRE - Gov. Larry Rhoden is creating uncertainty for our upcoming elections and unneccesary barriers for South Dakotans trying to register to vote after he signed SB 175 into law.

Showing proof of citizenship to register to vote will disenfranchise young people, low-income South Dakotans, the elderly, people in rural areas and Native South Dakotans. Thousands of people do not have access to their birth certificates and cannot afford a passport. And because of the emergency clause, county auditors and election officials are now scrambling to figure out how to comply with this new law before absentee voting begins in a few weeks for the June Primary.

"There is no reason for this law. We already have a system in place to verify people's citizenship and it is working," said SD Democratic Party Chair Shane Merrill. "There have been no instances of non-citizens voting in our elections. Instead, this law creates a two-tiered system in our state, telling some South Dakotans that they aren't good enough to vote.

This is exactly what voter suppression looks like. Kansas already tried this over a decade ago and blocked more than 31,000 US citizens from voting. That's exactly what is about to happen here. South Dakota is violating the constitution and National Voter Registration Act. This won't create free and fair elections - it only further erodes trust. We will continue our fight against voter suppression and provide assistance to those who need help registering, because that's what a real leader does."

Shane Merrill

SDDP Chair

For questions, please contact Communications Director Krista Burns at krista@sddp.org or call the office at 605-271-5405.

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