I was already to lament the passing of Tuesday’s deadline for initiative petitions with no filings from any of the circulating sponsors… but I keep forgetting that, technically, there is no deadline.
Rick Weiland didn’t forget. As the sponsor of two circulating constitutional amendments to protect the ballot question process and approved ballot measures from Legislative sabotage, my friend Rick sued the state last year over its 2025 law (House Bill 1184) moving the initiative petition deadline back three months from the first Tuesday in (sunny, verdant) May to the first Tuesday in (deathly cold and grey) February. After hearing arguments in June and August, federal Judge Camela C. Theeler ruled in September that the February deadline, nine months before the election, violated petitioners’ constitutional rights just like the state’s previous November deadline, twelve months before the election.
The state has appealed, so Weiland’s case is pending at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. But Judge Theeler’s injunction against enforcing the February deadline remains in force.
I keep forgetting that, when a judge suspends a law, the statute it amended, repealed, or replaced does not rush in to fill the vacuum. I mentioned this vacuum at the bottom of my analysis of Theeler’s decision in September, but I maintained the practical position that initiative petitioners should submit their petitions by May 5. But Weiland tells The Dakota Scout that since the Legislature failed to act amidst Judge Theeler’s injunction, the Secretary of State cannot enforce any submission deadline:
“We’re still collecting,” [Weiland] told The Dakota Scout.
…Weiland said the Legislature failed to set a new deadline date during the past legislative session.
“Theoretically, there’s no date because the Legislature failed to act,” he said [Jonathan Ellis, “Deadline for Citizen-Led Ballot Measures Expires, But One Group Continuing to Collect Signatures,” The Dakota Scout, 2026.05.06].
Funny: anti-initiative Speaker Jon Hansen created HB 1184 because he wanted an earlier deadline to squelch petition activity; his bad idea now has left South Dakota with no petition deadline!
O.K., I want every registered voter in South Dakota to drop everything, rush over to Rick’s house—or call or e-mail him to find out where his team is collecting signatures—and sign his petitions now, this week, not only because his two amendments—one requiring any change to the initiative and referendum process be approved by the voters, the other requiring that Legislative changes to approved ballot measures receive a three-fourths vote in the Legislature and a majority vote from the statewide electorate—are good amendments that South Dakota should have the chance to vote on this November, but also because I would love to see how this “no deadline!” theory works out in court.
Theoretically there may be no deadline, but practically, I suggest that Weiland has until August to collect and submit the 35,017 signatures needed on each petition to put these measures to a vote, since the Secretary of State has to print and ship ballots by September 16… not that Secretary Monae Johnson has sweated such legal deadlines so far this year. I wouldn’t mind if Weiland kept circulating through the summer and submitted a full petition right before Labor Day, but we can get the legal test of the deadline vacuum right now. Call Rick, sign the petitions, and let’s have fun at the polls and in court!