Ballot measures to tie Medicaid expansion to federal funding and raise the threshold to amend the constitution fail. Republican candidates win office for secretary of state, attorney general, auditor, treasurer and school of public lands.
South Dakotans on Tuesday approved two amendments to the state constitution that will establish a trust fund for unclaimed property and emphasize that non-citizens can't vote. Voters rejected another pair of ballot issues that would have repealed Medicaid coverage if federal funding goes away and required a 60% vote to amend the constitution in future elections.
They also cast ballots on all 105 seats in the state Legislature and chose a new slate of constitutional and statutory officeholders who handle the work of operating state government.
Here are the results of all statewide down-ballot races.
Ballot measures
All four ballot measures were referred to a vote by the Legislature and needed a simple majority to pass.
Julia Hellwege, associate professor of political science at the University of South Dakota, told News Watch that early results indicate decisions on ballot measures were split along party lines – though Amendments I and L were struck down by a majority of voters.
"I think there was a relatively partisan split on the ballot questions. On the one hand, aside from Amendment L, they're kind of policy-wonky and maybe things that don't necessarily belong in the Constitution. But Republicans saying yes on everything and Democrats saying no on everything was kind of the general message," Hellwege said.
Amendment K, which would establish an unclaimed property trust for the state, saw fewer total votes than other ballot measures, indicating that voters chose to skip the question entirely. Hellwege said that could either be due to the complexity of the amendment or a lack of interest in the topic, compared to Amendment L, which she called a more "salient" amendment.
South Dakota Legislature
South Dakota's 105 legislators serve two-year terms, so everyone was up for election this year. Thirty-five senators, one from each district, and 70 representatives, two from each district, were on ballots across the state.
Constitutional and statutory offices
While the governor leads the executive branch of state government, South Dakotans elect people to constitutional and statutory offices to carry out the responsibilities of running the government.
South Dakota also has one statutory office led by three public utilities commissioners who are elected for six-year terms. They regulate public utilities within the state, including electric, natural gas, telephone utilities and grain storage warehouses.
Issues important to voters
Pat Tisdale, 56, cast his ballot at the New Underwood Community Center on Tuesday. Besides voting for Gov. Larry Rhoden, he supported all other Republicans on the statewide ballot.
Tisdale said he also voted to “protect the Constitution” by voting in favor of ballot measures that would allow only citizens to vote in the future and require support from more than 60% of voters instead of more than 50% to change the state Constitution.
“I don’t think it should be changed at the drop of a hat,” he said.
Affordability issues are a growing concern for 20-year-old Maelei Featheringham, who cast her ballot on Tuesday at the community center in Box Elder.
“I don’t like people not being able to afford to live, and gas prices are absolutely ridiculous,” she said. “There’s no such thing as a single-income household anymore.”
Featheringham, a student, said her fiance is a well-paid electrician and the couple still can’t afford to get ahead.
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“I did research on the candidates, and I just based my vote on the person and what they believe,” she said. “A lot of times they don’t stick with what they say they’re going to do, but I’m hoping and have fingers crossed.”
Featheringham said she is generally disappointed with national leaders, and said her votes — which she kept private — reflected those concerns.
“I don’t like the direction the country is going for a lot of reasons,” she said.
Across the state in Brookings, voter James Rauzi, 24, said he is not affiliated with a party but supported more Democrats because he’d like to see politicians fight for what their voters elected them to do.
When looking at parties, Democrats aligned more with his values and the change he wants to see.
Rauzi, originally from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, moved to Brookings to attend South Dakota State University. He said he thinks the party system is “weird” and makes voting for candidates like a team sport.
“I’m not gonna tie my horse to just one party,” Rauzi said. “‘I'm a Republican. I'm gonna vote Republican on everything,’ or ‘I’m a Democrat, I’m going to vote Democrat on everything.’ I don't think that's sufficient enough or speaks for the entirety of the voter base.”
Fellow Brookings resident Sascha Peterson, a 52-year-old Democrat, echoed that it was time for a change.
“Everything needs an overhaul, in my opinion,” Peterson said. “The current regime is absolutely horrible, and we need to have better government and better options.”
Bart Pfankuch contributed to this story produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent nonprofit. Read, subscribe for free and donate at sdnewswatch.org. Contact reporter/Report for America corps member Molly Wetsch: 605-531-7382/ molly.wetsch@sdnewswatch.org. Contact reporter Emily DeCock: 605-736-4396/ emily.decock@sdnewswatch.org.
