Democratic candidate for U.S. House Nikki Gronli says her Republican opponent’s enthusiasm for shutting down your First Amendment rights should direct your vote to her. Gronli refers to Attorney General Marty Jackley’s dogged appeal of the initiative-petition-deadline case that he has lost before two federal courts:
South Dakota is the birthplace of the ballot initiative process. It was pivotal in women gaining the right to vote. We have a long history of respecting citizen democracy.
This isn’t about whether Marty Jackley agrees with a particular ballot question. It’s about whether South Dakotans have a fair opportunity to gather signatures and put an issue before their fellow voters. This is yet another attempt at silencing South Dakotans.
The court found that moving the deadline from May to February burdens citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. Instead of accepting that decision, Marty Jackley is asking the full appeals court to reconsider it.
Our democracy works best when voters, not politicians, decide what belongs on the ballot. South Dakota needs leaders who trust its citizens enough to let them have their say [Nikki Gronli, campaign press release, 2026.08.14].
I’m glad to hear Gronli living up to the Democratic brand and defending direct democracy. We ought to be hearing every Democrat on the ballot talking about how she or he will defend and expand South Dakotans’ right to put laws to a direct vote of the people. We ought to hear gubernatorial candidate Dan Ahlers offer a package of reforms to strip away all the unnecessary bureaucracy and paperwork that Republicans have piled onto the initiative and referendum process to price grassroots groups out of petition drives. We ought to hear Secretary of State candidate Terrence Davis talk about how he’ll make sure citizens get immediate updates and reliable guidance on ballot measures (alas, Davis doesn’t mention this core duty in his Ballotpedia survey responses).
And it would be awesome to have a Democratic candidate for Attorney General talk about ending the Republican war on initiative and referendum and exerting the power of the office of South Dakota’s top lawyer to protect citizens’ First Amendment rights, not curtail them… but gosh darn it, Democrats don’t have a candidate for that powerful office.