In March 2015, South Dakota made its ballot access laws worse for Independents. SB 69 said no one can sign Independent candidate petitions if they are registered into a qualified party and increased the number of signatures for major party members to get on a party primary ballot.
When repeal referendum petitions get enough valid signatures, the new law passed by the legislature is suspended until the public votes. So a repeal referendum petition started to ask the voters to repeal SB 69. The AFL-CIO is mostly interested in fighting SB 69 because it has a disproportionate effect on Democrats who want to run in the Democratic primary. SB 69 also increased their primary petitions from 1% of the last vote for their party nominee for Governor to 1% of the registered voters in that party.
The referendum petitions began to circulate earlier this month.
Under no political circumstance are South Dakota Independents like Kurt Evans, Larry Pressler, or the other 105,000 registered Independents who make up 20% of South Dakota’s electorate “on an equal footing” with candidates of the two major parties.
Organizationally, Independents have no reliable, ongoing network to tap for assistance in circulating petitions, raising money, and getting out the vote. They have no institutional knowledge or brand recognition to help them win elections. They have no representatives in state government to protect their electoral interests. Independents have never been in a position to make rules to benefit their political interests; they have always been subject to rules made for them by Republican and Democratic partisans whose narrow interests include boxing out non-party and new-party challengers.
Philosophically, we do not place Independents on an equal footing with partisan candidates by restricting the folks from whom they may seek nominating signatures to fellow Independents. “You can only get signatures from members of your own party” only makes sense for candidates who have a party, who are seeking nomination to a party primary ballot. That’s party business. Independents seek nomination to the general election ballot. That’s every voter’s business; every voter ought to be able to sign an Independent’s petition.
Sample Independents across South Dakota, and you’ll find a wide range of beliefs that would defy boiling down to a unifying platform. You may find only one common idea: that party affiliation should not matter. Telling Independents they must ask voters’ party affiliation and reject the nomination of party members contradicts what may be the only philosophical underpinning of Independence. That restriction is like telling South Dakota Republicans they have to vote for a state income tax, or telling South Dakota Democrats they have to vote to repeal initiative and referendum.
Senate Bill 69 is not about equality. It’s about punishing Independents for daring to operate outside the party system and making it even harder for them to run for office and offer their ideas and service to all South Dakotans.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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