Instead of a standard, mass-printed “I voted” sticker as a reward for participating in the Nov. 5 general election, roughly 8,000 voters can sport hand-drawn stickers designed by South Dakota children.

The South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office launched a sticker contest this year to encourage more students and schools to participate in election education. The custom stickers will be available to voters in Stanley, Custer, Lawrence and Meade counties, where the children who designed the winning stickers reside.

Between the June primary election, post-election audits, validating ballot measure signatures and preparing for the general election, Secretary of State Monae Johnson said the design contest was a way to lighten the season for her office.

“There was so much going on, we decided we need to squeak this one fun thing out,” Johnson said.

The design contest is part of a national campaign to educate children and their families about elections. Some contests, such as Michigan’s, are garnering nationwide attention for winning designs.

Johnson hopes South Dakota’s contest will continue and grow with the 2026 elections, after her office received 200 design submissions this year. State officeholders judged the submissions, which were open to elementary, middle and high schoolers.

Johnson is also continuing the Gladys Pyle Award, which Johnson launched last year to encourage South Dakota high school students to register to vote. Each school that registers at least 90% of their age-eligible students receives the award.

Pyle was the first female secretary of state in South Dakota, first female elected to the South Dakota Legislature and one of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate nationwide. She gave her life to education and politics, Johnson said, adding that she was an “incredible” and “amazing” inspiration.

The award was presented to Stanley County and T.F Riggs high schools this year, which each reported 18 new registrations. Johnson also recognized universities that held a voter registration drive for students, including Dakota Wesleyan and South Dakota State, which had 28 and 74 new registrations or updates, respectively.

The South Dakota Game, Fish and Park (GFP) Commission held their monthly meeting on October 3-4 at the Huron Events Center in Huron.

Wildlife and Parks Finalization

Fee Adjustment

The Commission finalized adjustments to fees within the both the Division of Parks and Recreation and the Division of Wildlife.

Some of the adjustments include:

• Establish nonresident Park Entrance licenses and set fee at $60 single and $90 double;
• Increase resident Park Entrance licenses to $40 single and $60 double;
• Create a rule for the department to sell habitat conservation plate emblems at $50 per vehicle set and $30 per motorcycle;
• Increase resident boat license fees by $5 for under 19 ft motorized, $10 19ft and over motorized, and $3 for non-motorized;
• Increase nonresident fishing licenses by $13;
• Increase resident fishing licenses by $3;
• Increase nonresident small game licenses by $21; and,
• Increase resident combination licenses by $5.

For a complete breakdown of the fee package, visit gfp.sd.gov/commission/information.

Public Comment Opportunity and Upcoming Meeting

To hear the discussion on any of the topics on the agenda, audio from the meeting is available through South Dakota Public Broadcasting and will soon be available on the GFP website as part of the meeting archive.

To see these documents in their entirety, visit gfp.sd.gov/commission/information.

To be included in the public record and to be considered by the Commission, public comments must include a full name and city of residence and be submitted by 11:59 p.m. CT, November 3

The next Regular Commission Meeting will be held November 7-8 at the State Capitol in Pierre.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Communities are still reeling from Hurricane Helene.

Some remain isolated as thousands are without power while deaths continue to rise, tragically passing 200 deaths this week.

FEMA and government officials are on the ground in some of the hardest hit areas helping to coordinate relief efforts.

The agency said that more than $45 million in funding is being made available to storm survivors, but with widespread damage, many feel more help will be needed.

People helping people is not something too uncommon in the upper Midwest, even to the point of helping others across the country.

Sanaa Abourezk is cooking for a cause this weekend. On what is usually her busiest day, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., all of the proceeds from her lunch benefit will go to supporting areas impacted by Helene.

“When we do fundraising, it’s busier which is great because we want to raise as much money as we can. As you see, it’s devastating what’s happening in the South. For me, when people are coming for the fundraiser, I don’t want to make any profit,” Abourezk explained. “They’re coming from the goodness of their heart to help other human beings. The last thing I want to do is take a percentage. Come hungry, but be very generous.”

This isn’t the first time she has used her restaurant to raise funds. Sanaa has been working through World Central Kitchen and in the local community since the early days of her restaurant.

“You know, Katrina happened and we did fundraising. It was very successful. People were more than generous and since then we do, unfortunately, we do almost a couple times a year with all the hurricanes and disasters we’re having,” Abourezk said.

World Central Kitchen sends volunteer cooks to bring hot meals to people in need and the money they receive goes towards buying ingredients from local farmers. The money from Sanaa’s fundraiser will be sent out on Monday.

Elsewhere in the state, Bubba Startz is using his connections and platform from his podcast work to start bringing supplies to the front lines. He held a supply drive on Thursday and he and a few others are making their way down south.

“I’ve always been an organizer of people. We are now just taking that one step further and activating these people to do what they are best at. It’s important that we go take care of these people. We can’t sit out here and expect someone else to do it,” Startz explained.

Startz and his Podcast group, The Scene Projects, had previously taken water bottles to Sturgis during the 2024 rally and the idea to bring supplies and listen to impacted residents came out of that recent experience.

“That kind of led me to, ‘Well if we can do that, we’re capable of so much more than that.’ On my drive back home from the Black Hills I got the idea, obviously seeing the utter devastation taking place in Tennessee and North Carolina, it was on my heart to get down there and to help,” Startz said.

Some of the supplies being taken down to Tennessee are non-perishable food, water, etc. They hope to be in communication with those in need so that they can make sure they’re only bringing what’s necessary and not an excess of what is not needed.

“We’re not building this just for one trip. This was a three-to-six-month operation from the start,” Startz said.

Bubba and Sanaa are just two of many examples of South Dakotans doing what they can to help others in their time of need.

If you ask them, it’s not about themselves, but doing the work and helping others like they have been helped in their own times of need.

“South Dakotans, it seems like we live through a nasty blizzard or flooding season or severe drought or something every year and I say hard times make hard people and hard people make strong communities,” Startz said.

“If we don’t take care of each other as a human being, we are doomed to be gone. I believe in passing forward. Someone was very kind to me when I came to America and now I’m trying to help my fellow American,” Abourezk said.

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