South Dakota
Rhoden vetoes ‘misguided’ petition bill, signs off on tougher South Dakota residency law
Gov. Larry Rhoden issued his second veto while making law a slew of legislation focused on South Dakota’s elections and its citizen-led petition process.
Rhoden on Tuesday signed 20 “election bills” largely aimed at tightening the state’s residency and voting requirements.
The most notorious includes House Bill 1208. According to the bill’s language, people who claim residency at a mail forwarding address or post office “without providing a description of the location of the individual’s habitation” are not considered residents of the state and can only vote in the federal election, if eligible. The bill works in tandem with the standing requirement that prospective voters must live in South Dakota for 30 consecutive days to be considered a resident and able to vote in state elections.
Opponents of the legislation have said the bill unfairly restricts the voting rights of full-time travelers from South Dakota and the state’s homeless population.
“South Dakota continues to be an example of free and fair elections. Our election system has integrity, and these bills improve our already strong system,” Rhoden stated in a Tuesday press release. “America is founded on the principle of freedom, and I am proud that we live in a nation and a state where we can choose our leaders.”
Other bills signed by Rhoden include laws prohibiting and penalizing the use of deepfakes in an election, requiring South Dakota driver’s licenses to indicate citizenship status, and banning people who aren’t registered as in-state voters from circulating petitions on ballot measures.
House Bill 1169, brought by State Rep. Rebecca Reimer, R-Rapid City, was the only one of the batch to receive the governor’s veto brand. The bill would have required groups circulating petitions for South Dakota Constitutional Amendments to obtain no less than 5% of signatures for all 35 legislative districts in the state, based on that district’s total votes in the last gubernatorial election, in order to placed on an election ballot.
The statute as it stands only requires circulators to receive a number of signatures equal to 5% of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election for the whole state.
Rhoden stated in a Tuesday press release that HB 1169 has a “worthy goal” in raising the bar for petitioning for constitutional amendments in the state but could prove a legal problem. He explained in a letter to the State House that if a court determines the proposed law infringes on the ability to engage in free speech, it would undergo “strict scrutiny,” or the highest standard of judicial review.
“I am concerned that this bill will not withstand scrutiny in the courts. This bill attempts to change the South Dakota Constitution in statute, and I believe that approach to be misguided,” Rhoden stated.
The governor’s veto was announced after Voter Defense Association of South Dakota, a group focused on the state’s ballot process, held a Friday press conference in which they and supporters threatened to put the bill through the referendum process.
Matthew Schweich, president of VDA, told the Argus Leader the bill would have hamstrung future citizen ballot initiatives in South Dakota by implementing “the most extreme geographic distribution requirement in the U.S.”
Former State Sen. Reynold Nesiba, a Sioux Falls Democrat, planned to sponsor the referendum petition to reject the legislation.
“It will effectively end the constitutional amendment process initiated by citizens in South Dakota,” Nesiba said. “We have to remember our state motto is, ‘Under God the People Rule.’”
Schweich also challenged the bill from a practicality standpoint by sharing concerns that petition gatherers would need to carry multiple versions of their petitions and clipboards for voters that may not live where they’re encountered. He also said the bill would make South Dakota’s petition process more vulnerable to outside influence, as smaller groups would be unable to financially support a statewide campaign that some out-of-state groups could still afford.
Rhoden echoed this in his letter to the State House.
“The additional burden of collecting signatures from each of the 35 senatorial districts, each on a separate petition sheet, risks creating a system where only those with substantial financial resources can effectively undertake a statewide petition drive. This undermines the bill’s intent by putting South Dakotans at a disadvantage to dark money out-of-state groups,” Rhoden wrote.
Other bills signed by Rhoden on Tuesday include:
- SB 68: Requires an individual be a citizen of the United States before being eligible to vote and to provides a penalty therefor.
- SB 73: Requires that an individual registering as a voter when applying for a driver’s license be a resident of the state for the purposes of voting.
- SB 89: Repeals the requirement that judicial officers be listed on a separate nonpolitical ballot.
- SB 91: Revises the requirements for a petition to initiate a measure or constitutional amendment or to refer a law.
- SB 92: Requires that the director of the Legislative Research Council and the secretary of state review an initiated measure and determine if the measure embraces more than one subject.
- SB 173: Revises the process by which a recount may be requested.
- SB 185: Amends provisions pertaining to the process by which the qualifications of a registered voter are verified.
- HB 1062: Amends provisions pertaining to the maintenance and publication of the statewide voter registration file.
- HB 1066: Revises residency requirements for the purposes of voter registration.
- HB 1126: Modifies provisions pertaining to the compensation of a recount board.
- HB 1127: Requires that notice of a county’s canvass, post-election audit, and testing of automatic tabulating equipment be posted to the secretary of state’s website.
- HB 1130: Provides permissible dates for municipal and school district elections.
- HB 1164: Revises the process for nominating candidates for lieutenant governor.
- HB 1184: Amends the deadline for filing a petition to initiate a measure or constitutional amendment.
- HB 1256: Requires the inclusion of certain information on a candidate’s nominating petition or on a ballot question petition.
- HB 1264: Requires the disclosure of an outstanding loan balance on a campaign finance disclosure report.
State House and Senate lawmakers will convene in Pierre on Monday. Both chambers will need a two-thirds majority of legislators to override Rhoden’s veto.
This small city in rural northeastern South Dakota has established itself as an energy hub for the entire Great Plains region, and that reputation has received a big boost by landing what will be among the world’s largest energy storage projects.
In a groundbreaking project, South Dakota-based POET has partnered with Antora Energy of California to launch a thermal energy storage system adjacent to POET’s ethanol plant in Big Stone City.
The 5 gigawatt-hour thermal energy storage facility will absorb excess, low-cost energy from wind turbines that might otherwise be lost due to capacity limits on the existing power grid and store it in carbon blocks for use when needed.
Officials said the new technology will be a major economic and environmental boost to South Dakota while also pioneering the use of a new energy technology for potential use across the country and the world.
Developers cite potential benefits
Leaders of the two companies told News Watch in exclusive interviews that the storage facility – the first to be put in commercial production by Antora – will generate several benefits now and well into the future for South Dakota, including:
1. The facility will improve efficiency and increase outputs at POET’s ethanol plant in Big Stone City by providing a reliable source of sustainable energy both during times of peak and non-peak power demand, ultimately reducing consumer costs for ethanol at the gas pump.
2. It will increase production opportunities for South Dakota corn growers, who will see expanded markets for their grains to be converted into ethanol.
3. It will reduce reliance on fossil fuels by enabling greater storage of energy generated by wind, solar or other sustainable sources.
4. Construction and development of the plant has supported 300 new construction jobs in South Dakota and California and will generate new full-time employment in the Big Stone City area.
“They’re taking excess wind energy that doesn’t have a home on the grid and otherwise would be wasted, and they’re capturing that,” said Jeff Lautt, president and chief operating officer of POET in Sioux Falls, the world’s largest producer of ethanol.
“Nobody’s got a switch for the wind, so it blows when it wants to blow, yet there’s a steady demand for power that has to be met, and this system will provide for that.”
Andrew Ponec, chief executive officer of Antora Energy, was unwilling to share the total cost of the project. But a press release on the storage project noted that Antora has “catalyzed hundreds of millions in private investment in the company.”
Ponec said the majority of costs for the Big Stone project were paid through private financing, led by Grok Ventures of Australia, and not the U.S. government. He added, however, that thermal storage has received strong bipartisan support, including in the Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress in 2025.
A May 19 press release on the project from POET and Antora included statements of support from U.S. Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden.
“America’s need for energy is continuing to rise year after year, (so) the more of that energy we can take right here at home, the better,” Rounds said in the release. ”(This) project in Big Stone City will have a real economic impact in South Dakota while also creating jobs and boosting our domestic energy production.”
A regional power hub set in a small town
Big Stone City was selected as the site for Antora’s first large-scale thermal energy storage system because of the existing POET biofuels plant and the Otter Trail Power Co. plant on the site, and due to the city’s location as a major hub on the regional Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) power grid system, Ponec said.
“We’re an energy technology company, so we’re going to go to wherever there are big concentrations of energy users,” he said.
Thermal energy storage collects low-cost, off-peak energy from virtually any source – local wind turbines in this case – and stores it as heat in insulated blocks of solid carbon that reach 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat, which can be stored until needed, is then transferred into an oil that allows it to be carried to industrial users, in this instance the POET plant next door.
There, the heat is transferred to steam that powers boilers, distillers and other machinery used in production of ethanol and a host of other byproducts generated at the POET plant. The Big Stone plant produces 92 million gallons of ethanol annually, Lautt said.
Ponec likened the thermal storage process – which consists of dozens of large white metal boxes on the ground – to the operations of a giant toaster. Electricity from the outlet (energy from wind towers) is transferred to the toaster heating coils (the carbon blocks), which then generates heat to brown the bread (run machinery in the ethanol plant.)
The project uses very little water and does not create any substantial emissions, Ponec said.
To illustrate the nimble nature of thermal storage, Ponec noted that the Big Stone facility was built in less than a year. The facility is already providing power to POET’s plant and should be fully online in October.
Another type of energy storage for South Dakota
Thermal energy storage is similar to lithium ion energy storage in that both concepts seek to capture power that can be held until demand goes up and may exceed supply, thereby stabilizing the power grid and reducing costs for consumers.
But while lithium batteries store actual electricity and only for a few hours, thermal storage holds the energy as heat and can hold it for much longer periods, Ponec said.
South Dakota might soon be home to a pair of lithium battery projects, including in Codington and Brookings counties, which backers said will create new opportunities for wind and solar production in the state.
Antora makes money on the project by selling its energy to POET while opening the door to greater sustainable electricity production in the region and lowering power costs for the ethanol plant, Lautt said.
“It creates more efficiency for us, so we’re then using less natural gas to operate the facility, which makes us greener,” he said. “It really creates a win-win-win all across the footprint.”
___
This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Gov Rhoden Smithfield interview
Gov. Rhoden, alongside economic development commissioner Bill Even, answers questions on the Smithfield move and what’s next. Watch the full interview here.
On Monday, Gov. Larry Rhoden announced that his administration is expanding on its partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of the public safety efforts announced last July.
“My administration’s number one responsibility is keeping South Dakotans safe,” said Rhoden in a release. “We’ve been working hard to get illegal alien criminals off our streets, out of our prison, and out of our country. I am proud of the results our officers have delivered – they are keeping our state strong, safe and free for generations to come – and now there’s more work to do.”
The South Dakota Highway Patrol has enrolled more troopers in ICE training, Rhoden’s release stated, increasing the number of troopers trained eight-fold. Originally, five troopers were trained in July 2025, and 17 troopers are currently trained. With this third addition in force, that number will increase to 41 troopers.
“This partnership is showing strong results,” said Secretary of Public Safety Bob Perry in a release. “In the last twelve months the SD Highway Patrol has conducted 150 arrests of illegal alien criminals.”
The expansion is also supported by the Department of Homeland Security. South Dakota is anticipating a federal reimbursement of approximately $165,000, according to Rhoden’s release.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) and the South Dakota National Guard (SDNG) have continued to work with ICE as part of two other components of this state-federal partnership, the release stated.
The DOC submitted additional inmates for parole to federal custody and deportation, according to the release. So far, 24 inmates have been paroled directly to ICE custody. DOC and ICE have identified an additional 14 inmates who will be considered for federal custody and deportation. Getting these undocumented immigrants out of the state prison system saves South Dakota taxpayers an average of $34,000 in annual cost per inmate, the administration said.
DOC is also implementing enhanced training of officers to serve warrants and assist ICE with deportations.
The SDNG deployment of seven guardsmen has continued since last fall. These active-duty soldiers in Sioux Falls and Rapid City are helping process deportations, acting as a force multiplier for South Dakota ICE officers, Rhoden’s office stated in the release. Through May 15, the SDNG has assisted directly in processing 664 illegal immigrants who have been deported out of South Dakota.
News
Eastern South Dakota farmer finishes planting ahead of schedule
A farmer in eastern South Dakota says the growing season is off to a good start on his farm now that the corn and soybeans have been planted.
Scott VanderWal, who farms in Brookings County, tells Brownfield “We had a small delay right around the May 1 where we got a couple inches of rain. That was really welcome, and then we went the rest of the way and got it all planted. I think for the most part, most farmers are about done around here, which is fairly early.”
VanderWal says some of the corn is up and soybeans are starting to poke up out of the soil.
In its latest crop progress report, USDA says South Dakota’s corn is 81 percent planted, a 28-point jump from the previous week, with 22 percent of the crop emerged. Fifty-nine percent of the state’s soybeans are planted, a 25-point jump from the previous week with 10 percent of the crop emerged.
VanderWal says rain is needed to help the crops, because it’s been dry in South Dakota. He says while much of the state received rain over the weekend, it skipped the Brookings area, and he’s optimistic some will find the farm this week.
“Sure would love to have an inch of rain or two.”
Temperatures are also expected to dip down to the mid-to-upper 30 degrees this week in parts of South Dakota, but VanderWal says he’s not too worried.
Hear Brownfield’s interview with VanderWal.
-
Movie Reviews7 minutes agoJack Ryan: Ghost War review – Amazon’s Tom Clancy series spawns middling movie
-
World19 minutes ago
Judge orders mental health evaluation for the woman accused of attempting to murder Rihanna
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoAre psychedelics getting a tech rebrand? : It’s Been a Minute
-
Education1 hour agoVideo: The Police Clash with Anti-Government Protesters in Bolivia
-
Technology1 hour agoMercedes’ electric AMG GT 4-door coupe can go 0-60 in 2 seconds
-
World1 hour agoWHO head ‘deeply concerned’ over ‘scale and speed’ of Ebola spread, says emergency committee will meet
-
Politics2 hours agoGeorgia Republicans head to runoff in secretary of state race defined by 2020 election claims
-
Health2 hours agoCould Ebola spread to the US? WHO emergency sparks fears after American infected in Congo
