The Secretary of State reports that South Dakota begins the new year with 0.94% fewer active registered voters than it had at the beginning of 2021. According to the monthly tally, the number of active registered voters dropped over the year from 581,354 to 575,899. By the Census’s estimate, that means 100,000 adults in South Dakota, about 1 out of 7, who are not registered to vote. Maybe 13,400 of them are disqualified from voting by felony convictions.
The net decline of 5,455 registered voters over 2021 is actually smaller than the decline of 5,979 voters in the registered Democratic ranks (down 3.77% for the year). After the traditional fall purge of the voter roles, Republicans saw their ranks decline just 142 (–0.05%) from last January. Independents grew by 453 (+0.32%), and Libertarians added 227 (+9.55%).
There are 279,331 registered Republicans, 152,709 Democrats, 139,874 independents, and 2,605 Libertarians. If Libertarians can continue their annual growth rate of 9.55%, their ranks will top 100,000 in South Dakota in 2062.
Republicans now constitute 48.5% of South Dakota’s electorate, up from 48.07% in January 2021. Democrats have slid from 27.3% to 26.5%. Independents have crept up from 24.0% to 24.3%. Ten years ago, those percentages were 45.9% GOP, 36.8% Dem, and 17.1% ind.
Another South Dakota Republican secretary of state is manipulating voter rolls? What a shocker.
The reason Libertarians are gaining numbers is because public radio and CNN mistakenly identify the meth tweakers who stormed the Capitol on 1/6 as “libertarians.”
We can change our representative government, right?
Why do 48.5% of the voters get to decide 90% of the Legislative seats and 100% of the Statewide Offices?
That is Dull-mocracy.
Democracy isn’t saying to the other 51.5% of voters who actually voted-Screw you, your vote doesn’t count, winner takes all, you’re not a winner.
So we can change the Legislature to run 100 days a year.
Say there is a 3 way race in a District. Republican gets 55%, Democrat gets 30%, Libertarian gets 15% of the vote.
Here’s what happens- The Republican serves in the Legislature for 55 days, the Democrat is in for 30 days, the Libertarian serves for 15 days.
That’s fair.
Elections are not all their cracked up to be. Honest.
When you see birds flying in formation, are all the birds Republican? Did they kick out all Democrats, Libertarians, Independents and Other birds and say, you can fly us, we are Republicans, we are winners take all, you’re grounded? No. Of course not. So then why are birds smarter than people?
In the numbers, “Other” increased almost 1% to 1, 380. The Other voters and Libertarians have 0% representation in the Legislature and Executive offices. Isn’t this sales taxation without representation?
If you want this in our government, say SO and let’s talk about this in this great blog! If you do want “Winner Take All” then say nothing and ignore a great new idea.
You can complain about corruption and R’s all day long. Or you can say, Hey let’s create something new and different!
Here’s the statute that we can change (by Initiative in 2022 or 2024)–
12-20-39. Election by plurality.
Except when otherwise specially provided in all elections for the choice of any officer, the person receiving the highest number of votes for any office shall be deemed to have been elected to that office.
We can amend this to– “…………………….the person receiving the highest percentage of total votes for any office shall be deemed to be the first winner, and will serve that percentage times the total number of days the office meets. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th winners shall serve in their office in the same manner. In the event there is only 1 candidate, he or she will serve 100% of the days the office meets. In the event there are 2 candidates that are tied in a two way race, each candidate will serve in office for 50% of the days the office meets. ” Something like that.
Then the only other Initiative we’d have to pass would be lengthening the time of the Legislature to 100 days (or longer).
We can have Dull-mocracy OR we can have a true Democracy, where 100% of the votes count, and candidates graciously share offices.
“When you see birds flying in formation, are all the birds Republican? Did they kick out all Democrats, Libertarians, Independents and Other birds and say, you can’t fly with us, we are Republicans, we are winners take all, you’re grounded? No. Of course not. So then why are birds smarter than people?” (Correction)
This might be an uphill battle for the 99.9% of voters who are addicted to a “Winner Take All” semi-solution. Drop your addiction. What is so nasty about someone sharing an elected office with the 2nd or 3rd place finisher. It is magnanimous!
All voters deserve to see their candidate serve some time in the office they are seeking.
Our voting system is set up as it is now. Can’t you see it changing?
Saying this is a republican state is not true. It is only 48.5% republican. Less than half! (The elected officials don’t count. The voters do!)
Do you think on Day 1 of the universe, the Big Bang, God said, You know, I’m God, I’m a Republican and a white guy. We’re gonna punish anyone who doesn’t have pale skin like me. And I decree that the part of North America called South Dakota from 1889 onwards will be republican and white, because I God am republican and white? No!!!
Traditions can change. Traditions need to be deep sixed. Change is necessary and beneficial.
Factor in the non voters. Than the Republicans 48.5% goes down, probably to less than 40%. You mean to say, in a Dull-mocracy, a person can actually be a serf and not vote?
Give the voters the right to choose “None of the Above.”
Australia requires voting. $100 fine if you don’t vote. They have a much lower Covid death rate than the US. Smarter country.
Correction. It’s $55 if you fail to vote in New South Wales, Australia.
https://www.elections.nsw.gov.au/Voters/I-didn-t-vote/Penalties-for-not-voting
“Yes, under federal electoral law, it is compulsory for all eligible Australian citizens to enrol and vote in federal elections, by-elections and referendums.”
If you do not vote at a State or local government election and you don’t have a valid reason, you will be fined $55. Apparent failure to vote notices are distributed within three months of an election event.
From the same website—
“Apparent failure to vote notices
If it appears you didn’t vote at an election you were eligible for in New South Wales, we will send you a formal Apparent failure to vote’notice in the post asking you to provide a reason why you did not vote or to pay a penalty. Penalty payments are paid to the NSW Treasury and not retained by NSW Electoral Commission.
You must respond within 28 days of the issue date of the notice. If you do not reply within 28 days, we will send you a reminder notice before referring the matter to Revenue NSW for further action. There will be an additional $65 fee if this matter does get referred to Revenue NSW.
Referral may then result in a penalty notice enforcement order against you and lead to the cancellation or suspension of your driver licence, or the cancellation of your car registration.”
So $120 in fines and you lose your drivers license and your car registration. Sounds fair to me. Smart not dumb. (Free-dumb is no excuse for infecting others because you are too dumb to get vaccinated. )
I’ll say it again, Libertarians are Republicans who smoke dope.
Cory writes:
An exponential-growth word problem. That’s some literal “political calculus”… :)
Mark Anderson nails it.
Yes, I agree, Maek is right on several levels. The Libertarian core beliefs are hard to identify. Just lots of random, fairly sketchy notions, I wish it were not so.
Libertarians are just Republicans in disguise, differing on 2 major things. Yes the Libers want to smoke their pot and then have legal sex with prostitutes, not on an island with underage girls or pussy grabbing in public for cheap thrills.
Most recent members of the Libertarian Party don’t know anything about the origins of the party or who the founders were and what the original platform was, just like the Republicans. Are they a David Friedman, Gary Johnson, or Rand Paul kind of Liber? If it’s the latter, then they’re nuts.
I was a Liber for all of my voting life until they evolved into something I couldn’t recognize or stomach. From my experience, I found that in SD the membership is predominately male, some of whom are heavily armed and many who were living 2 centuries in the past and very sexist.
This increase in membership should be a warning sign to the Democratic Party of SD.