This story originally appeared in the South Dakota Searchlight.

An ongoing effort to create open primary elections received some big contributions from South Dakotans in 2023, and also received a little more than half of its donations from a Colorado-based political action committee funded in large part by a Georgia billionaire, according to recently filed campaign finance reports.

“Our open primaries effort in South Dakota has caught the attention of many groups nationally,” said Joe Kirby, a leader of the open primaries effort, in an emailed statement.

The Colorado PAC is Unite America. It raised $3.67 million in 2023, according to its federal campaign finance reports. Its biggest contributor was Arthur Blank, co-founder of the Home Depot and owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, who gave the group $1 million. That was one of seven individual contributions of $200,000 or more that Unite America received last year.

Unite America gave contributions totaling $451,150 to the South Dakota Open Primaries ballot question committee. The committee, which received $818,000 in total contributions in 2023, is circulating petitions to place a measure on statewide ballots Nov. 5 that would establish top-two primaries for gubernatorial, congressional, legislative and county races. Candidates for each office would run in an open primary, regardless of their party affiliation.

“Unite America is an organization which advocates for election reform around the country,” Kirby said. “They are funded by individuals who believe that election reforms like open primaries and ranked choice voting will improve the quality of politics in America.”

South Dakota’s primary elections are currently split by political party. Democrats allow the state’s nearly 150,000 independents and non-politically affiliated voters to vote in their primaries, but Republicans do not. Republicans dominate general elections and hold every statewide office, while Democrats hold only 11 of the state’s 105 legislative seats. Kirby has said the primary system “discourages competition, encourages hyper partisanship and excludes hundreds of thousands of voters.”

The committee’s state campaign finance report for 2023 shows it also received large donations from a group of Sioux Falls residents, among other, smaller individual contributions. The large contributions included a combined $82,500 from David and Deanna Knudson; a combined $80,000 from Joe and Jennifer Kirby; $50,000 apiece from Tom Heinz, Dan Kirby and Drey Samuelson; and $25,000 from John Fiksdahl.

Unspecified “consulting” costs of $657,000 constituted most of the committee’s expenditures. The committee started 2023 with about $45,000 and ended it with a balance of about $204,000.

Unlike some other states, South Dakota’s campaign finance laws and rules allow disclosures such as “consulting” without specific information revealing who was paid and for what.

The open primaries group is just one of the South Dakota ballot question committees that recently submitted required year-end campaign finance reports.

According to their reports, the committees raised a combined total of $1.25 million and spent $1.12 million last year. In the early stages of a ballot question campaign, expenses may include paying petition circulators to gather the thousands of signatures needed from registered voters to place a question on the ballot.

Supporters of eight potential ballot questions are circulating petitions. Additionally, the Legislature has exercised its authority to place one measure on the ballot.

There are no limits on contributions to ballot question committees in South Dakota.

Following are summaries of the campaign finance reports from committees with significant financial activity in 2023.

Dakotans for Health

Dakotans for Health is the committee circulating ballot measures that would reestablish abortion rights in South Dakota and repeal the state sales tax on food.

The group’s campaign finance report for 2023 shows about $185,000 in donations, including $119,706 from individual contributions. The biggest individual donations were $5,000 apiece from Elizabeth Zieglmeier, of Rapid City; Stan Adelstein, of Rapid City; Evelyne Rozner, of Seattle; Vincent Ryan, of Boston; and Susan Cullman, of Stamford, Connecticut.

The organization started the year with about $96,000 and spent about $249,000. Expenses included $167,000 on consulting, $44,000 on salaries, and $1,950 on advertising. The group’s ending balance was about $32,000.

Dakotans for Health’s fundraising included a $55,000 contribution from another committee, Takeitback.Org-Advocacy. Democratic political activist and former congressional candidate Rick Weiland is the chair and treasurer of both Takeitback.org and Dakotans for Health.

Committees are not required to disclose the names of contributors who donate $100 or less. Takeitback.org’s report shows $33,845 worth of those contributions and $23,559 of individual contributions of more than $100 from people in multiple states.

Life Defense Fund

The Life Defense Fund is the group encouraging South Dakotans to “decline to sign” the abortion rights ballot petitions, hoping to prevent the measure from getting on the ballot.

The group’s campaign finance report shows about $211,000 in income, including $87,931 from entities such as local or regional right-to-life committees.

Another $28,000 came from individuals who gave $100 or less, and $92,000 came from individuals who gave more than $100.

The biggest individual donation came from Adam and Joy Broin of Sioux Falls, who gave $5,050.

The committee spent about $209,0000, including $61,000 on advertising and $120,000 on consulting. The committee started 2023 with about $17,000 and ended with about $19,000.

Marijuana

Petitions are circulating for two marijuana-related measures. One proposes to legalize a limited form of recreational adult marijuana use, possession and distribution. The other would repeal the state’s existing medical marijuana program.

The Grow South Dakota Ballot Committee raised about $24,000. The group aims to legalize recreational marijuana for people over 21 years old.

HomeSlice Media Group donated $16,300 worth of creative services and travel expenses to the committee. The committee’s chairman, Brad Jurgenson, is president of HomeSlice Media. Major cash donors included Puffy’s marijuana dispensary in Rapid City and the Flower Shop of Dell Rapids. Both gave $10,000. Grow South Dakota spent about $800.

South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws Inc. also works to legalize marijuana. It raised no money and spent no money, but received $5,000 worth of staff time and website operations from the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.

On the other side of the issue, Protecting South Dakota Kids (the group that opposed legalizing marijuana in 2022) took in about $4,400 and spent $176.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seth Tupper for questions: [email protected]. Follow South Dakota Searchlight on Facebook and Twitter.