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SD Voice Proposes New Initiative to Challenge Unconstitutional Circulator Registry and Badges

Lee Strubinger talked to me today about my failure to refer House Bill 1094, the petition circulator registry and badging requirement that will take effect on July 1, 2020, to a public vote. I told Lee I trusted him to pick the best line or two out of the 20+ minutes of audio I gave him. He didn’t do too badly:

Heidelberger says House Bill 1094—the law passed this last session—is unconstitutional. He points to case law out of Colorado about anonymity of circulators and violations of prior restraint.

“The fight over circulation badges and the registry is not over,” Heidelberger says. “A law this patently oppressive and unconstitutional cannot be allowed to stand. I will continue to look for avenues through which we can overturn this egregiously oppressive and unconstitutional law” [Lee Strubinger, “SD Blogger Considering Options to Overturn New Circulator Law,” SDPB Radio, 2019.06.28].

…avenues like this new initiative, just reviewed by the LRC and submitted in final form to the LRC and Attorney General for review, explanation, and fiscal note this afternoon:

Cory Allen Heidelberger, proposed initiative, submitted to AG and LRC for final review 2019.06.28.
Cory Allen Heidelberger, proposed initiative, submitted to AG and LRC for final review 2019.06.28.

Chapter 14 of the 2019 Session Laws is House Bill 1094. And that’s the shortest initiative I’ve ever written.

I have a lot to say about this… but let me survey you, dear readers, first. There’s the initiative text. Does it work… and how will it work in conjunction with our People Power Initiative?

My first initiative petition remains in circulation, and I remain committed to placing it on the ballot… alongside this new initiative, once we get the Attorney General’s title and explanation and can print out our circulator forms and residency affidavits.

So, circulators: who wants to come work the State Fair?

8 Comments

  1. Debbo 2019-06-28 20:42

    I have the time and I’d love to circulate petitions, except, well, you know . . .

    Damn. 😖

  2. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2019-06-29 07:16

    Debbo, courts in other states have struck down residency restrictions on petition circulators, and South Dakota did just see a landmark ruling throwing out residency restrictions on financial support for ballot measure campaigns. You could engage in a small act of civil disobedience that would lead to throwing out South Dakota’s unconstitutional behavior… or you could end up costing me a civil penalty of $5,000. What’s your inclination? :-)

  3. Nick Nemec 2019-06-29 08:21

    While this is a simple one word measure nearly all voters will see it and wonder what is being repealed, despite claiming libertarian tendencies South Dakotans love regulations and control, in some cases the more the better. You better have a SHORT and persuasive ballot explanation at the ready.

  4. grudznick 2019-06-29 11:50

    Do it, Ms. Geelsdottir. Do it!!!

    Plus, the state fair in Huron is better than the state fair in St. Paul. Of course I might be biased. I am an actual South Dakotan.

  5. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2019-06-29 11:52

    I do have a short and persuasive explanation ready, Nick. The one-liner for the street and radio is, “We’re repealing the bureaucracy and paperwork the Legislature is using to kill your right to petition and you chance to vote on important issues.”

    For the ballot pamphlet explanation, I’ll offer something like this:

    The People Power Referendum seeks to suspend and put to a vote House Bill 1094, a bill passed last winter that would force ballot question petition circulators to put their names and personal information in a government registry and wait for the state to issue them badges for any petition they intend to circulate. HB 1094 stinks for several reasons:

    1. HB 1094 crushes civic engagement by making it impossible for volunteers to jump in and immediately help a grassroots ballot question petition drive.
    2. HB 1094 expands state intrusion in circulators’ privacy, requiring volunteers to surrender not just their name, e-mail, and phone number but now their physical address to the state and to passersby on the street, thus subjecting them to harassment from unfriendly state officials and petition opponents even before they start collecting signatures.
    3. HB 1094’s sloppy wording turns anyone who speaks in favor of signing a petition into a circulator subject to criminal penalty for failing to register.
    4. HB 1094 squeezes genuine grassroots campaigners out of petition drives and ensures big-money special interests expand their role in initiative and referendum.
    5. HB 1094 subjects citizens to prior restraint of free speech activity, which will not withstand court scrutiny.

    Suggestions?

  6. Debbo 2019-06-29 13:25

    That’s good Cory. I like your one-liner especially.

  7. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2019-06-29 15:22

    The South Dakota State Fair is superior to the Minnesota State Fair as a place to gather signatures for South Dakota ballot measures. Care to join me at the petition table in Huron, Grudz? Send me your email and phone number, and I’ll sign you up with the SOS to circulate.

  8. leslie 2019-06-29 17:03

    The difficulty getting these 17,000 signatures speaks louder than words for the success of the REPUBLICAN “gerrymandering of constitutional citizen I/R rights. What paragraph number contains this sacred right?

    Compare it to the bloodthirsty 2d amend.

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