Representative Rebecca Reimer (R-26B/Chamberlain) is out to rob candidates of two to three weeks of petition circulation time.
Right now, party candidates for most partisan offices in the state—Congress, Governor, Legislature, county offices—have until the last Tuesday of March (March 31 this year) to collect signatures and submit their nominating petitions. Independent candidates for those partisan offices get until the last Tuesday in April (April 28 this year). City council and school board candidates have until 70 days before their election (March 24 this year if the election is on primary day, August 25 if the city and school district vote on general election day). The deadline is the same whether candidates hand-deliver their petitions or send them by registered mail.
Representative Reimer proposes House Bill 1095 to move those deadlines up and shorten the petition circulation period. HB 1095 would set the second Tuesday in March (March 10 this year) as the deadline for submitting nominating petitions in person for partisan candidates and for local offices being elected on primary day. Local candidates seeking a spot on the November ballot would have to submit their petitions by the second Tuesday of August (August 11 this year).
HB 1095 does not touch the deadline for independent candidates for partisan offices.
HB 1095 sets the deadline for election chiefs to receive nominating petitions by registered mail as March 31 for June candidates and August 31 for locals standing in November. So theoretically, under Reimer’s scheme, a candidate who misses the second-Tuesday deadline could keep collecting signatures and mail them to the Secretary of State, county auditor, or school/city finance officer a couple weeks later… but given how bad Republicans tell us mail service is getting under Trump, what serious candidate would gamble on sending a petition by mail?
The only merit of HB 1095 is that it brings a little consistency to petition dates. Candidates seeking spots on the June ballot all have the same deadline. But making that deadline earlier (and Rep. Reimer does not propose moving the start time for petition circulation earlier than January 1) reduces the time candidates have to talk to their neighbors, organize campaigns, and get themselves onto the ballot, and consistency alone is not worth less time for political participation and the core political speech of petitioning.
HB 1095 would force Legislative candidates to throw their hats in the ring before the election-year Legislative Session is done. While HB 1095 won’t take effect until after this year’s elections, applying its deadlines to future years with calendars like 2026 would require candidates to submit petitions on March 10, in the middle of the Legislature’s last big week of debate and votes. The current later deadline allows legislators to concentrate on their work in Pierre, go home mid-March, decompress for a weekend, think about whether they want to return for another couple Sessions of stressful debate and sausage-making, and go collect signatures. Challengers may want to see how the entire Session turns out, how their current legislators vote on the budget and other big bills pending until the last regular day of Session, and then decide whether they need to fight for a change in representation.
Earlier petitions deadlines for Governor and other offices deny those candidates as well of useful thinking time. We should encourage political participation by giving citizens considering a run for office as much time as possible to weigh all the issues of a campaign—political, practical, and personal—and make an informed decision.
If Rep. Reimer and her Senate prime sponsor rookie Senator Amber Hulse (R-30/Rapid City) want more consistency in petition deadlines, let’s do it without reducing candidates’ opportunity to talk to their neighbors and get on the ballot. Let’s amend HB 1095 to provide two clear petition deadlines: March 31 to get on the June ballot, August 31 to get on the November ballot. And yes, I mean apply that August 31 deadline to independents running for Congress, Governor, Legislature, or county office, too.