South Dakota

Should South Dakota constitutional amendments require a 60% majority to pass?

Published

11 months ago

January 19, 2025

Should South Dakota constitutional amendments require a 60% majority to pass?

Resolution sponsor argues out-of-state donors are shaping South Dakota elections; Opponents say campaign finance reform is the answer

PIERRE — Lawmakers are considering a resolution that would start the process of making it more difficult for voters to pass a constitutional amendment in South Dakota.

The State House Affairs Committee heard testimony on House Joint Resolution 5003, a bill that would ask voters during the next general election whether to change the votes needed to pass a constitutional amendment from a simple majority to a 60% threshold.

The joint resolution was amended to the 60% figure at the start of the bill’s hearing on Friday. The prime sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. John Hughes of Sioux Falls, had initially suggested a two-thirds majority in the initial version of his legislation.

The committee passed the resolution on an 11-2 vote, sending it to the full House for consideration.

Out-of-state interests have undue influence on South Dakota elections, resolution sponsor says

Hughes argued South Dakota has become a “convergence point for out-of-state interests to take advantage and exploit” the state’s simple majority requirement to pass constitutional amendments.

The Sioux Falls lawmaker referenced several large donations made in the weeks before the 2024 general election to Dakotans for Health, a group pushing to enshrine the right to abortion in the South Dakota Constitution — though Hughes did not directly name the group or the ballot question in his statements.

Hughes pointed to a $500,000 donation made by Think Big America, a nonprofit backed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, in October.

Pritzker made another donation of $250,000 to Dakotans for Health on Nov. 1, according to a report filed with the South Dakota Secretary of State.

Another group backed by conservative activist Leonard Leo later matched the Pritzker nonprofit’s donation with a $500,000 that went to No G for SD, a ballot question committee. That money went to pay for ads opposing Constitutional Amendment G, which was rejected by 59% of South Dakota voters in the election.

“We have big checks coming in: $100,000 from a guy in California, $500,000 from the governor of Illinois. What on earth is the governor of Illinois doing to shape and mold the political and social values of South Dakota?” said Hughes, who failed to mention Leo’s large donation.

South Dakota law allows ballot question committees, or groups with a position on a specific ballot question, to receive unlimited amounts of money from individuals, political action committees, political parties, entities and other ballot question committees.

Nathan Sanderson, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association, spoke in support of the resolution, saying amending the constitution “should be more difficult” than amending a statute. Sanderson led the effort to oppose Initiated Measure 28, which was sponsored by Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland.

But opponents contend the change would actually work to the benefit of wealthy groups and individuals.

Opponents: Reforms to campaign finance laws, not majority requirements, is needed

Chase Jensen, a lobbyist for Dakota Rural Action, told the committee he agreed with Hughes on part of his testimony, particularly regarding the influence of out-of-state money in the state’s elections.

But he argued the state’s campaign finance laws need to be reformed, specifically when it comes to how outside money is allowed to be brought into state elections, rather than “changing the power of the people.”

During the recent election, only one out of seven ballot questions passed the simple majority threshold (50% plus one vote).

Constitutional Amendment F, which proposed to enforce work requirements on individuals who apply for expanded Medicaid benefits, passed with 56% of votes in November.

Jensen said raising the bar would only make it more difficult for legislators and citizens to pass constitutional amendments in the future.

“With the unprecedented concentration of wealth in our society, in our politics today, we believe raising the threshold of votes wouldn’t deter out of state money. It would only open the tap even further,” Jensen said.

Zebediah Johnson, a lobbyist for the Voter Defense Association of South Dakota, told the Argus Leader the majority of constitutional amendments proposed over the last two decades have been referred to voters by legislators.

South Dakota’s early populist movement adopted the initiative and popular referendum process into the South Dakota Constitution in 1898, becoming the first state in the U.S. to do so.

“There is no need for South Dakota, which created the American ballot initiative, to deviate from the norm in such an extreme manner,” Johnson said.

South Dakota voters have a recent history of rejecting changes to the state’s majority requirements.

In 2018, South Dakotans considered Amendment X, which proposed to raise the vote threshold to 55%. That failed after only receiving 46% of the vote.

Voters also rejected Amendment C in 2022, which would have required any future ballot measure that increases taxes, or spends $10 million over five years, to pass by at least 60%. This proposed change was also defeated after only receiving 33% of votes.

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Lucky For Life winning numbers for Nov. 30, 2025

Published

9 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Press Room

The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 30, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Nov. 30 drawing

03-08-13-17-18, Lucky Ball: 17

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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South Dakota

Competition for Nebraska’s ‘Carhenge’ rises near South Dakota’s Badlands

Published

21 hours ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

Competition for Nebraska’s ‘Carhenge’ rises near South Dakota’s Badlands

KADOKA, S.D. (Nebraska Examiner) — Nebraska’s quirky replica of England’s prehistoric Stonehenge, “Carhenge,” is about to get some new competition in a neighboring state. And a former Nebraskan is behind it.

Rising from a dusty, prairie ridge along Interstate 90 near this Badlands-area town is a collection of firetrucks dubbed “Firehenge.”

Its creator, an Omaha Burke High School grad who runs a Rapid City brewery, said the ring of 10-ton firetrucks vertically arranged in a circle is more about promoting his Firehouse Brewery Company than trying to lure away visitors from Alliance, Nebraska’s popular Carhenge, about 200 miles to the south.

The new South Dakota version of the roadside attraction, which sits just off I-90, also includes a collection of buried fire hydrants called “Doghenge.” By next summer, the new henges will include a gift shop where visitors can purchase brewery souvenirs and canned beer and wine from the Firehouse Brewing Co., South Dakota’s first and oldest brewery.

“We are just having a ton of fun out here. Just come out and see it,” said Bob Fuchs, the co-owner of the brewery who graduated from Burke in 1981. And, he adds, bring your dog.

A city official in Alliance, which took over ownership of Carhenge in 2013, said she doesn’t expect local residents to mount a monumental fuss over a competing “henge” in the general vicinity.

“I think all of these things are fun,” said Shana Brown, the director of cultural and leisure services for Alliance.

As it turns out, both Carhenge and Firehenge have plenty of competition in tourism’s Carhenge-replica category.

There’s a “Foamhenge” (made out of foam) in Virginia, a “Truckhenge” near Topeka, Kansas (made out of farm trucks), a “Phonehenge” (made out old telephone booths) in South Carolina, and a “Strawhenge” (made out of bales) in Bavaria, Germany.

Years ago, a “Twinkiehenge” was built during a Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. There was once a “Snowhenge” in Michigan and a “Fridgehenge” (made out of old refrigerators) once graced the plains near Santa Fe before complaints caused its demise.

A couple decades ago, a reporter was summoned to Chadron, where a suspected “Hayhenge” had been built northeast of town. Round hay bales had been arranged in a circle at a local ranch.

In the kinda-old-henge category, there’s a full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge in Maryhill, Washington, that was built in 1918 to honor people lost in World War I.

And near Carbury, North Dakota, there’s a circle of granite walls that serves as a 21st Century solar calendar, which is the suspected purpose of Stonehenge, a prehistoric circle of stones aligned for ceremonial purposes to indicate the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and fall equinoxes.

Carhenge was built in 1987 by Jim Reinders and his relatives as a memorial to Reinders’ father, who had lived on the farm north of Alliance where the collection of 39 American cars – arranged to align with the solar calendar – now sits.

The off-beat attraction draws about 100,000 visitors a year, according to Brown, and features a staffed gift shop from May through September. An estimated 4,000 people gathered there for the solar eclipse in 2017.

Carhenge has appeared in films, commercials, television shows and in song. Last summer, it hosted a group of muralists, who painted murals on the grey-painted cars, providing a new look for the motorcar monument.

Fuchs, the Firehenge creator, said he’s not haunted by henges but had visited Carhenge shortly after it was first created.

The inspiration for his firetruck circle came during a recent marketing meeting for his brewery, which was established inside a former Rapid City firehouse built in 1915.

Fuchs has long parked old firetrucks, purchased from all corners of the Midwest, next to his brewery billboards to draw more attention to his business. He says that he often hears that visitors to Rapid City’s downtown area ask “where’s the Firehouse?”

“It’s guerilla marketing,” Fuchs said during a recent visit to Firehenge. “It’s very effective.”

At the marketing meeting, one of Fuchs’ aides was playing with a toy firetruck. Once she set it on end, vertically, an idea was born.

He said he has no plans to hoist a firetruck so it sits horizontally across two vertical trucks — like the stones at Stonehenge and cars at Carhenge. Too many liability concerns, Fuchs said. More firetrucks may be planted this spring, though, he said. And a YouTube video, featuring a visit by aliens to Firehenge, is in the works, Fuchs adds.

Over the din of a front-end loader smoothing out a gravel parking lot, he said it’s been a lot of fun.

“I get to explore my artistic side by planting fire trucks in the prairie,” Fuchs said.

Nebraska Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Aaron Sanderford for questions: info@nebraskaexaminer.com.

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South Dakota

SD Lottery Powerball, Lucky For Life winning numbers for Nov. 29, 2025

Published

2 days ago

November 30, 2025

Press Room

The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 29, 2025, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from Nov. 29 drawing

19-22-30-32-59, Powerball: 01, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Nov. 29 drawing

04-08-09-34-39, Lucky Ball: 13

Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from Nov. 29 drawing

01-15-18-21-46, Star Ball: 06, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Dakota Cash numbers from Nov. 29 drawing

11-13-20-21-28

Check Dakota Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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