The League of Women Voters and Sioux Falls voter Jaysen Hill got their day in federal court this week to argue to District Judge Eric Schulte that the implementation of 2026 Senate Bill 175 is unjustly infringing on voter rights through contradictory documentation rules and inaccurate information from the Secretary of State. With early voting starting next Friday, Judge Schulte is promising a swift ruling:
Federal judge Eric Schulte promised a ruling in a voter registration case in South Dakota next week.
“The timeline here is of the essence,” Schulte said in court in Sioux Falls Friday.
…The timeline is important because the absentee voting starts Sept. 18, which is followed by the November general election [Rae Yost, “Judge Says Ruling Next Week on Voter Registration Case,” KELO-TV, 2026.09.11].
A ruling for the plaintiffs won’t block SB 175. Aspiring voters will still have to prove their citizenship to register; this lawsuit only seeks to allow voters to submit photocopies of driver licenses, tribal ID cards, and other nondriver IDs to get on the voting roll and to direct Secretary of State Monae Johnson to stop confusing voters.