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Bills to publish voter lists online and protect voters’ contact info both pass SD House • South Dakota Searchlight

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Bills to publish voter lists online and protect voters’ contact info both pass SD House • South Dakota Searchlight


PIERRE — The South Dakota House of Representatives advanced a bill Wednesday that would make the state’s list of registered voters free and available to the public online, and another bill that would restrict access to registered voters’ contact information.

The two bills, which would amend some of the same sections of existing state law, are yet to be reconciled. Both bills now head to the Senate.

The House voted 37-31 to advance the bill that would make the voter registration list freely available online, after debate over funding and privacy implications. 

The bill would mandate the Secretary of State’s Office to publish the list online, with weekly updates, and to maintain historical archives. Supporters said the bill would reduce barriers to election oversight, citing costs of current voter lists, which are priced at $2,500 per request and up to $3,000 for absentee data.

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Rep. Heather Baxter, R-Rapid City, proposed the bill. She said free access to voter rolls is important to secure elections.

“I’m just asking for it to be of no charge since we’ve already paid for it as taxpayers,” Baxter said. 

Rep. Jana Hunt, R-Dupree, said the $2,500 fee is too high for South Dakotans, including political candidates who use voter lists in their campaigns.

“It’s the people in South Dakota that can’t afford a $2,500 fee for voter information. It’s the candidates in this room that struggle with that fee,” she said. 

On that note, Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, said the bill has more to do with getting campaigns voter information than election integrity. He voted against the legislation.

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“Let’s think about who actually accesses these voter files,” Mortenson said. “Let’s be honest: It’s mostly candidates or activist groups or special interest groups. And so we’re going to say, ‘Well, if we’re going to cut a fee, we’re going to start by benefiting the politician before we start benefiting the people.’ And I don’t think that’s right.”

State Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, on the South Dakota House floor during the 2024 legislative session. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

The fees collected to obtain the voter registration list are used for upkeep and technical support for the state’s Total Vote system, which is used statewide by county auditors and the Secretary of State’s Office to manage voter registration and election data.

The bill does not include funding to offset the lost fees. The Secretary of State’s Office — which spoke in opposition to the bill during its initial committee hearing — said the total fees came to about $100,000 last year. 

Opponents also said implementing the changes might require new software, hardware and additional staff to manage archives and fulfill data requests. 

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Lindley Howard, McPherson County auditor, said during the committee hearing that she is concerned eliminating fees might transfer a financial burden to local governments. 

Rep. Tim Reisch, R-Howard, said publicly posting a voter registration list including the birth year of voters could result in scammers having a catalog of elderly South Dakotans provided by the state, for free. He voted against the bill in the committee and the House. 

Reish said during the committee hearing that he is all for greater election transparency, “but this bill goes way beyond that.”

Conflicting legislation

The bill that would forbid public access to voters’ phone numbers and emails passed 40-28

Rep. Mike Weisgram, R-Fort Pierre, proposed that bill. He said the goal is to limit the number of political texts and emails voters are subjected to during elections. 

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The bill would prohibit public access to telephone numbers and email addresses on voter registration forms, in addition to existing protections for Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and full dates of birth.

Weisgram said the bill ensures that disclosures of voter registration information cannot be exploited by campaigns or commercial interests. 

Opponents said the bill is unnecessary because providing a phone number or email address on voter registration forms is already optional. But supporters said many people feel obligated to fill out all the blanks on the forms. 

Rick Weible with South Dakota Canvassing — a group that says it advocates for “election integrity” — spoke against the bill during its committee hearing. He said the data is already available through other sources, so barring the state from giving it out does little good.

“Cat’s out of the bag, because I’m also aggregating data from Facebook, X and all the other social media where, oh yeah, your phone number is part of your account,” Weible said. 

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Weisgram said those arguments ignore the intent of the bill.

“What’s more important? A campaign, or the people’s personal information?” he said.

Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, R-Sioux Falls, voted against making the voter registration list available for free online and in favor of the bill restricting access to voters’ contact information. She told South Dakota Searchlight she was frustrated to see the bills pass in an unreconciled form.

“We should be figuring it out,” she said. “And obviously today, we did not, by passing two bills that conflict with each other.”

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South Dakota

South Dakota House votes on gender identity bills

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South Dakota House votes on gender identity bills


PIERRE, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The South Dakota House voted on two bills dealing with gender identity on Wednesday.

House Bill 1259 would prohibit unauthorized access to certain “Multi-occupancy rooms” such as men’s and women’s bathrooms in schools and state buildings.

House Bill 1260 would require that birth certificates and certain official documents reflect a person’s biological sex when applying for state-issued licenses and documents.

HB 1259 was passed by a vote of 49 to 21.

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HB 1260 was rejected by a vote of 35 to 35 due to not getting a majority vote but could possibly be reconsidered.



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South Dakota man among those elected to office for National Association of Conservation Districts

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South Dakota man among those elected to office for National Association of Conservation Districts




South Dakota man among those elected to office for National Association of Conservation Districts | DRGNews

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Human Remains Found on South Dakota Reservation Identified as Sioux Woman Who Disappeared Over 1 Year Ago

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Human Remains Found on South Dakota Reservation Identified as Sioux Woman Who Disappeared Over 1 Year Ago


Authorities have identified a body found on a South Dakota reservation in January as a Sioux woman who disappeared more than a year ago.

The remains of Michelle Elbow Shield were found in the town of Interior on the Pine Ridge Reservation in January, forensics lab Othram said in a statement.

The Native American woman was last seen in Rapid City in October 2023 and reported missing a short time later, they added.

The cause and manner of Elbow Shield’s death are under investigation “as well as the circumstances around her disappearance.”

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Rapid City Police Chief Don Hedrick said that authorities invested “thousands of hours” in the investigation into Elbow Shield’s disappearance, according to CBS affiliate KELO-TV.

“We hope this recent news can offer some sense of closure for her loved ones,” he added. 

Michelle Elbow Shield.

Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety


Nellie Bald Eagle, Elbow Shield’s grandmother, previously told KELO-TV that it was not in her granddaughter’s character to go somewhere without letting someone know.

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“If she left someplace you know, she let somebody know. Or if she’s farther away from town, she’ll let somebody know,” she explained. “And there was this friend of hers that told me she contacted him every day.”

Initially, authorities were unable to identify Elbow Shield “due to the condition of the woman’s remains,” according to Othram.

Hedrick said a break in the case came “thanks to information shared by the public,” KELO-TV reported. 

Othram said they worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit and the Rapid City Police Department to identify the remains through “advanced DNA testing.”

A comprehensive DNA profile was developed for Elbow Shield using “Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing,” and a potential relative was eventually identified, the company said.

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The individual provided a sample, and Elbow Shield was identified a short time later, they added.

Othram said it’s “the first publicly announced case in South Dakota where investigators used technology developed by Othram to identify an individual.”

“Something like this is heartbreaking for a family to go through,” Kristen Mittelman, chief development officer at Othram, said in a statement, KELO-TV reported. “But being able to deliver answers is important so that law enforcement can get to the truth.”

Hedrick said the police department plans “to use all available combined resources in order to bring this case to a resolution.”

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“We remain committed to fully investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance through collaboration with the involved public safety agencies in order to uphold justice in the case,” the sheriff explained.

Police and Othram did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.



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