URGENT CALL TO ACTION - EMAIL, TEXT OR CALL NOW!!

Mar 04, 2025

⁨https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/.../Amendment/283674.pdf

Yesterday, the House State Affairs Committee amended SB68 by REMOVING the FELONY penalty for false and fictitious voter registrations, soliciting false and fictitious voter registrations, and illegal voting to a MISDEMEANOR.

This means all illegal voting in the State of South Dakota will now be an unenforceable misdemeanor. Misdemeanors ARE NOT a deterrent for FRAUD.

The penalty for false voter registrations is CURRENTLY a Class 6 felony - punishable with a $4000 fine and 2 years in prison. The House State Affairs Committee just opened the door to mass FRAUD with no enforceable penalty.

Senator Carley worked in the Senate with fellow legislators, lawyers and the SOS to make the penalties in the code consistent in South Dakota statute, and with Federal statute. This is an unacceptable error and the House MUST FIX IT TODAY!! Please contact the House and demand they re-institute the felony penalty for VOTER FRAUD!!⁩

HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES

May be a graphic of lighter and text that says 'Smokeout HB1062D amend provisions pertaining to the maintenance and publication of the statewide voter registration file. South Citizens are tired of being ripped off with HUGE fees, when it is all digital and very easily posted online. Dakota is in the TOP most expensive states and our soS office is selling our data for a profit! Contact your Senator NOW! 605-773-3821'

Yesterday, in the Senate State Affairs Committee, HB 1062 died by one vote. This bill would make the voter rolls free of charge, and require the Secretary of State to keep a historical archive of voter lists, including election day voter lists. (required by the NVRA - which they currently do not do)

South Dakota is in the top 10 most expensive states in the country to obtain PUBLIC RECORDS. https://uscase.org/2025-voter-roll-costs

Our group has spent nearly $30,000 purchasing voter data for crowd source public oversight. Ohio and North Carolina publish this information to their websites on a regular basis. It’s as easy as clicking a button.

Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Vermont, and Washington all offer this data for free.

Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wyoming cost $125 or less.

South Dakota charges $2,500 for a statewide voter file, and an extra $3,000 for absentee data. Some states have been sued for charging exorbitant fees and lost!

A large representation of We the People came forward in support of HB1062. From Tripp County to Lawrence County, McPherson to Pennington - the People spoke. There were GOP Exec Board members that also spoke in favor of this bill. They were all ignored.

Most members of the committee acknowledged the fact that the SOS office charges too much and that the legislature needs to do something, but then failed to do the work, and killed the bill.

Senator Kevin Jensen pointed out the fact that the SOS office is selling our data and making a profit off of it.

The committee had an issue with giving rule making authority to the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications. Rep. Baxter gave rule making authority to BIT, because it was currently allocated to the Board of Elections, that have no qualifications or authority per SDCL 12-1-9 to write rules on file security. The audio of the hearing is not available yet but you can find it at the link above later today.

HB1062 D - removes rule making authority completely. This is what we need.

It is imperative that we increase transparency, efficiency, and accessibility of our public records NOW.

NO more kicking the can down the road.