Even when Republicans offer a petition or election reform I like, I can’t help noticing that their real motivation is not a deep commitment to democracy and the integrity of elections but only a frightened, frenzied impulse to stymie the ballot measures that more often than not break against Republican ideology and one-party rule.
Consider Senate Bill 124, brought to us by Senator Jim Bolin (R-16/Canton) and—here he is again!—Speaker G. Mark Mickelson (R-13/Sioux Falls). SB 124 would make it a Class 5 felony to forge or induce forgery of signatures on ballot question petitions. It would also Class-5-felonize any petition sponsor’s knowing conspiracy to collect bogus signatures. Class 5 felony can be up to five years in the pen and $10K fine. In addition, SB 124 would ban anyone convicted of forging or conspiring to forge signatures on a ballot measure petition from sponsoring or circulating a petition for ten years.
Regular readers will recall that I take petitions and veracity in their circulation and submission very seriously. I agree with the prima facie intent of Senate Bill 124: if you lie to gain access to the ballot, you deserve prison, a big fine, and enough bad publicity to guarantee you don’t participate in South Dakota elections for a long time.
But why restrict that punishment only to forgery of ballot question petitions? It’s just as egregious that a circulator would forge names to get a candidate for Legislature, Governor, or other public office, or that a candidate would countenance falsehoods or other violations of law for her own shot at the ballot. The language of SB 124 is vague, but it amends Chapter 2-1, which deals strictly with initiative and referendum. Sponsors Bolin and Mickelson appear to intend to hang this sword of Damocles over the heads of ballot question organizers and not over themselves and their fellow candidates. Once again, South Dakota Republicans want to make running a grassroots campaign for a ballot measure even scarier while shielding themselves from any similar level of scrutiny and responsibility in the conduct of their political campaigns.
Senate Bill 124 isn’t a bad idea. The Legislature should amend it to apply the same stiff penalties to forgery and other lies on any petition, for ballot questions or for candidates. Absent such an amendment, SB 124 is less an exercise in keeping democracy clean and more an exercise holding the people to a higher standard than Bolin, Mickelson, and the Republican Legislature are willing to hold themselves.
Perhaps Messrs. Bolin and Mickelson thought that could sneak that one by you while you were off cavorting with the Tapio supporters and disrupting his giant political rally.
I had similar thoughts regarding all of the information HB1196 seeks to ply from circulators – volunteer or otherwise. That bill should be amended to apply only to paid circulators, but it should extend to anyone paid to circulate nominating petitions as well. Maybe if we can encourage these types of common sense changes, lawmakers circulating their own petitions for candidacy would begin to realize just how burdensome they are making it to gather signatures.
Yes, extend it to candidates. Also, prevent Legislators from sponsoring ballot measures. Also, in his petition gathering for his ballot questions, G. Marky let his petitions sit in the open where anyone could have signed against the law. That should be a felony, and G. Marky should be locked up.