South Dakota
North Dakota tribes eligible for state grant to promote voter access • North Dakota Monitor
FORT YATES, N.D. – The North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office addressed efforts to make voting more accessible for tribal members during a meeting Wednesday on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
Secretary of State Michael Howe said his office has a grant to assist tribes with the administrative costs of issuing IDs for voting purposes.
The pot of money for each biennium is $25,000, with each of the five federally-recognized tribes having access to up to $5,000.
This is the second budget cycle the grant has been available, Howe said at a meeting of the Legislature’s Tribal and State Relations Committee at Prairie Knights Casino. During the 2021-2023 biennium, none of the tribes used the money, Howe said. The funding is still available for this biennium.
“In the coming weeks ahead, if a tribe would like to use that $5,000 grant to help the administration of issuing IDs, that money is available to you,” Howe said.
The funding is the result of federal lawsuits that were settled between tribes and the state. Two separate lawsuits from North Dakota tribes challenged the state’s requirement that voters have IDs with street addresses. Addresses on many rural reservations are post office boxes.
A settlement of those lawsuits included reimbursing tribes for the cost of issuing addresses and IDs. The settlement also gave tribes the ability to quickly verify “set-aside” ballots.
The Secretary of State’s Office is looking for contacts from tribal governments to help verify set-aside ballots. Under North Dakota law, a voter cannot be turned away if they show up without valid identification.
The ballot won’t be counted until their qualifications are verified. They have 13 days to do so after the election.
“What the tribal nations can do is provide a contact, and then the day after Election Day, our office will send that contact a list of individuals who have voted a set-aside ballot who might be residing on a reservation and that tribal nation can then verify the qualifications of that voter,” said Erika White, elections director for the Secretary of State’s Office.
People who want to serve as contacts should reach out to White at the Secretary of State’s Office by Nov. 1 at 701-328-4146.
Valid forms of identification for voting in North Dakota include a North Dakota driver’s license; a non-driver state-issued identification card; a tribal ID or a tribal letter; and certificate from a long-term care facility.
Alice Bird Horse, a representative at-large for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council, said she’s heard of incidents about poll workers turning away voters with tribal IDs. She asked Howe whether poll workers were specifically trained not to do this.
“I won’t name the specific county that it happened in, but it’s alarming to know that maybe they weren’t trained very well or educated on their duties as a poll worker,” Bird Horse said.
Howe said his office has trained all 53 county auditors about the acceptable forms of identification, who in turn train poll workers.
“We can communicate with every county to reiterate to their poll workers for the November election, nobody should be turned away,” he said.
North Dakota tribes can get help with non-driver ID cards before Election Day
Over the past few days, the Department of Transportation has visited Belcourt, Fort Yates and Fort Totten to issue non-driver IDs on the reservations.
The department is scheduled to visit the Spirit Lake Nation on Thursday at The Blue Building, 816 Third Ave. N., Fort Totten; and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation on Tuesday at the Northern Lights Wellness Center, 710 East Ave., New Town.
For questions about the photo ID events, call NDDOT at 1-855-633-6835.
For more information about North Dakota voting requirements, go to the Secretary of State’s Office website, vote.ND.gov.
This story was updated to add context of lawsuit settlements related to tribal voting.
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RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Department of Transportation is inviting the public to share input on the development of the Statewide Active Transportation Plan. The plan aims to improve the state’s transportation network by integrating other modes of travel like walking and biking.
The plan focuses on improving safety and connectivity along state highway corridors, ensuring that pedestrians and cyclists have safer, more accessible routes. SDDOT says collaboration is key, and feedback from residents, businesses, local governments, tribal entities, regional organizations, and community groups will help shape the plan’s priorities.
Public comments are being accepted here through Friday, Nov. 21.
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Copyright 2025 KOTA. All rights reserved.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) -Hundreds of millions of dollars are on the way for military projects in South Dakota.
1 of 3 appropriations bills signed by President Donald Trump as part of a deal to reopen the government included nearly $400 million for B-21 related projects at the Ellsworth Air Force Base.
The spending also included $28 million for a National Guard vehicle maintenance shop in Watertown and a maintenance hangar at the Sioux Falls airport.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a statement:
“This full-year funding bill will help strengthen the role that South Dakota plays in keeping our nation safe by making long-term investments in Ellsworth Air Force Base to improve its capabilities and advance its preparations for the B-21 mission.”
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South Dakota
Best dive bar South Dakota? Here are 3 spots loved by locals that are worth the $2 beer
There’s a game of Shake-A-Day around here somewhere.
Dive bars in the Midwest are like coming home and bellying up to your regular spot or with your lucky pool cue. Your Jack and Coke is already poured, your buddy arrived at the time he always does and now the lore is flowing.
It’s going to be another great night.
This time of year especially harkens a bar regular – home for the holidays and wanting to unwind once again.
Whether you’re chasing nostalgia or just a cold one, these dives prove that the heart of the Midwest beats loudest in its bars.
Here’s a look at a few great dive bars in South Dakota.
The Ice House: Shattered glass and record-breaking can smashing
The Ice House Bar in Yankton, South Dakota, isn’t known for producing artificial ice. How boring. It’s known for its century-old tradition of smashing empty beer bottles against a brick wall.
The family-owned, Missouri River establishment began in 1928 as the Pure Ice Co. until it started selling beer after the prohibition in the 1930s. Since, folks come for the $2 beers, $10 buckets served curbside or to hang their legs off the dock to toss a bottle or two underneath their feet.
The tradition is famous. Broadcast journalist and South Dakota native Tom Brokaw frequented the bar for a Budweiser, and owner Jim Anderson was on “The Late Show with David Letterman” to show off his record-breaking can-smashing skills: He can crush 76 cans in 25 seconds with one foot!
Details: 101 Capital St., Yankton, S.D., 605-665-2631.
Top Hat: One of the oldest haunts in Sioux Falls
The Top Hat in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is timeless. Your father probably sat underneath the same glow of the same PBR neon sign in the 1970s and grabbed a bag of Fritos from the same clip on the wall. (Hopefully the chips are newer.)
Owner Andy Lenz prefers to freeze this dive bar in time. Why change it? she says. There are no frills, no craft beers on tap and no menu. Hungry? She’ll toast a thin-crust Rosken’s Dakota Pizza if you want to pair it with your Grain Belt while playing a game of pool underneath dim lighting.
There’s also dart boards, video lottery, a juke box that’s always humming and the smell of old cigarettes and stale booze – which is to say, it feels familiar, safe and like home.
Details: 508 S. First Ave., Sioux Falls, SD, 605-332-8171.
Meridian Corner: Deep-fried chislic and broasted chicken
If you know South Dakota, you know chislic. If you know chislic, you know Meridian Corner. Located on the corner of highways 18 and 81 west of Freeman, this proudly proclaimed “hole-in-the-wall” is nationally known for its family recipe of deep-fried lamb or mutton: Lamb chislic is more tender, while mutton chislic is chewier but with more flavor. Each is humbly served in skewers of three, six, nine or 12, with a side of saltines and garlic salt.
There’s savory broasted chicken and pork chops on the menu as well.
The family-owned tradition of Meridian Corner was hard to kick. It opened in the 1980s, closed shop for years then opened again in 2011, back by popular demand and with little change. It’s an old red farmhouse on the corner of nowhere, and there are usually tractors in the parking lot.
Details: 43915 U.S. Highway 18, Freeman, S.D., 605-387-5000.
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