An eager reader and keen observer of the Legislature responds to my morning post about Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s inclination to reduce absentee voting time for local elections by reminding me (and perhaps Secretary Johnson) that, starting next year, local elections must take place on the same date as the statewide primary or the statewide general election. “Would this bill” the reader asks of Secretary Johnson’s Proposal #1, “mean that two elections being held in the same day have different early voting periods?”
Uh oh.
2025 House Bill 1130, signed by Governor Larry Rhoden on March 25, requires school boards and municipal governments to set their annual elections on either “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in June or the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.” HB 1130 takes effect January 1, meaning the school and city elections you’re used to seeing in April will next year be mixed and perhaps lost in the swirl of the Congressional, Public Utilities Commission, and county commission campaigns.
Secretary Johnson says she wants to change the early-voting law to “establish that the 46-day absentee voting period only applies to statewide elections. Other elections will have at least 15 days of absentee voting when a specific absentee voting period is not defined.”
I need to dig through the statutes on early voting (which some radical right-wingers tried to severely curtail last Session), but the answer to my reader’s question appears be Yes. Absent specific bill text, the summary of Secretary Johnson’s idea as presented to the Board of Elections Tuesday suggests that a voter could walk in to the courthouse on September 29, after the traditional start of early voting, ask for ballots, and be handed only the statewide ballot.
“Hey,” the surprised voter may say, “what about the school board and city council? Don’t I get to vote on those, too?”
“Sorry,” the beleaguered county election official may say, “new rules. You can vote for Congress and PUC, but you have to come back on October 19 or later to vote early on those races.”
HB 1130 sponsor Representative Will Mortenson (R-24/Fort Pierre) said his intent is to increase voter turnout for local elections. If that is the case, we should do everything we can within the new combined-election framework to encourage turnout, including maintaining the same 46-day period for early voting for all contests on all ballots on Election Day. HB 1130 is already creating confusion for local governments; let’s not create more by creating different early-voting periods for different contests happening at the same time.
Where is this coming from? No Republican does anything on their own. Why not check which states have the best system and adopt that? That’s the point of states rights isn’t it? To see what works best.