South Dakota Open Primaries

"If it can happen in South Dakota, it can happen anywhere." Read more in the newsletter.

Newsletter: If It Can Happen In South Dakota, It Can Happen Anywhere If it can happen in South Dakota, it can happen anywhere.

With Amendment H top two open primaries, an estimated 50,000 more registered South Dakota voters will participate in our state primary elections. That's impressive!

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Watch our new video collaboration with Let Us Vote !

This New Policy Can Give Power to Voters (Not Politicians) In South Dakota In South Dakota, the primary is the whole election, but only 17% of voters participated in the last primary. This November, voters in South Dakota have an op...

What elections are included in the South Dakota top two open primary? See below! 👀

We're not alone! Arizona and Idaho are also campaigning for Open Primaries in their states. Learn more here:

Common Concerns Across Three State Capitols? SD, AZ & ID Reformers Propose Open Primaries Meet reformers from three different states (SD, AZ & ID) all proposing through 2024 ballot measures as a first step toward more responsive & r...

How do top two open primaries work?
It's simple.

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Thanks The Purple Principle Podcast for having us on!

Great Plans on Great Plains? Restoring South Dakota Values Through Open Primaries Directors Joe Kirby and De Knudson of South Dakota Open Primaries, joined The Purple Principle to talk about their goal to provide 150,000 independent voters...

"Advocate for open primaries Steve Allender says this change is needed to give everyone in South Dakota an equal opportunity to vote."

https://www.kotatv.com/2024/07/17/amendment-h-advocates-say-its-time-change/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0HwmyEXFp9498u7OUqeBaFBIjZ3lfryT2Uiz-D9hM3w3zsGPknCZfqxrs_aem_cb0DE6TSsCv1aqP32HjodQ

Amendment H advocates say it’s time for change South Dakota organization calling for open primaries in Amendment H.

President Reagan is all for Open Primaries! 😆 convinced him to support Amendment H!
Remember to see her and more tonight at the Rapid City Public Library 5:15MT

Yes on Amendment H will bring rational politics back to South Dakota government.

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Thank you, SD Senator Michael Rohl for your support!

I support Amendment H

Learn more at https://www.sdopenprimaries.org or let me know if you have questions.

Missed our latest newsletter? Read below! And, be sure you're subscribed on our website to get the next: www.sdopenprimaries.org

Open Primaries is Amendment H

Watch local Rick Knobe share with the Let Us Vote campaign.

I Was Incensed to Learn I Can't Vote Rick Knobe is the former Mayor of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was incensed when he learned he can't vote in the Republican primary, which is often the only...

Great meeting with Change Agents of SD to answer questions about and - thanks Rick Knobe for having us and Jon Beringer for the photos.

Amendment H top-two primaries let's all voters vote!

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Hear from SDOP Chair, Joe Kirby, on Dakota News Now "Matters of the State". Coverage begins at about 2 mins into the video.

Matters of the State: Pushing Primary engagement; Amtrak on track in South Dakota? This week on Matters of the State, we look at possible changes to voting and audits for South Dakota elections.

Open Primaries in the wild ... Yes on H! (coming soon) US 12 & I-29. Traveling this weekend? Send us your pics if you see us on the road. 🇺🇸 🚙🚗🛻

Enjoy the Fourth! Yes on H!

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Party bosses fail in their effort to stop open primaries! via The Dakota Scout


"... the 11th-hour attempt to prevent the amendment from appearing on the ballot was rejected by the state’s chief election official, according to South Dakota Open Primary Chair Joe Kirby - who says he received a call from the Secretary of State’s Office Monday afternoon.

He decried the effort as a last-ditch attempt to derail the amendment by “political elites.”

“Party bosses on the left and right hate this proposal that will take power from them and return it to voters,” Kirby said. “Our amendment will let all voters vote in future state sponsored primary elections.”

GOP activist unsuccessful in blocking vote on open primaries Former South Dakota lawmaker's challenge alleged too many invalid signatures for 'top-two primary' constitutional amendment

Let all voters vote!

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Vote YES on H

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Thanks The New York Times for covering primaries initiatives
around the country.

"Backers of these campaigns say they are tapping into a deep well of voter unhappiness with a political system that ignores the priorities of ordinary people.

“The closed primary system is hard-wired to reward partisanship,” said Joe Kirby, a retired Sioux Falls business executive who is leading the South Dakota effort. “We want to have a Legislature that reflects South Dakota values,” — not the values, he said, of the 17 percent who turned out for this month’s primary election.

The stated goal of all these proposals is to draw more voters into the democratic process, especially in the many primary elections where turnout is low and voters with extreme views have outsize influence."

The Ballot Measures Aim to Reduce Partisanship. Can They Fix American Politics? (Gift Article) Eight states are certain or likely to field election initiatives that would overhaul redistricting or give voters a greater voice in choosing candidates.

Time for positive change. Vote "YES" on 'H' in November!

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Voters want to vote!

What November election? Half of the U.S. House is already decided. Troiano is the executive director of Unite America, a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan election reform to foster a more representative and functional government. He’s also the author of “The Primary Solution.”Last month, Americans were treated to an embarrassing spectacle...

Amendment H will open South Dakota's primary elections to ALL registered voters regardless of party affiliation. Fairness.

South Dakota Open Primaries We are South Dakota Open Primaries, the South Dakota 2024 open primaries ballot initiative campaign.

Election results bring support to ending South Dakota's closed primaries

Card-carrying Republicans signal newfound openness to Open Primaries

by JOE SNEVE
JUN 15

The campaign to do away with primary elections controlled by political parties has a few more allies after partisan voters cast ballots this month.

The campaign committee behind South Dakota Open Primaries (SDOP) is basking in the afterglow of the June 4 primary election that saw several high-profile upsets of longtime GOP lawmakers and establishment-backed Republican candidates. And though SDOP Chairman Joe Kirby would have preferred to see fewer victories for the faction of his political party that is considered less moderate, those results could bode well for his efforts come November.

“We have a lot of new friends all of a sudden,” the Amendment H co-author told The Dakota Scout, citing an outpouring of calls, contacts, and inquiries — and even checks — received by SDOP since June 4 when just 17 percent of voters statewide turned out to vote, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Kirby says that level of voter turnout is a product of South Dakota’s closed primary election system, and it highlighted SDOP’s position that a majority of registered voters are unable to participate in a meaningful primary.

That’s because Republican primaries are exclusively open to GOP voters while Democrats and independents don’t typically have races of consequence to draw them to the polls for the state’s biennial election. Democrats allow independents to vote in their primaries, but those primaries are few.

And as the Democratic Party continues to lose its foothold in South Dakota politics, Kirby said South Dakota’s closed primary system has increasingly discouraged competition, encouraged hyper-partisanship and excludes more and more voters from having a meaningful role in state elections.

“The old election system doesn’t work when you have a single-party state,” said Kirby, who is proposing to voters during this year’s general election that all candidates for a single office, regardless of party, run in one primary election open to all registered voters. Amendment H, if passed, would send the top two vote-getters in an open primary to a runoff in the general election.

The proposal continues to face opposition from the South Dakota Republican Party, which wants to keep its party’s role in selecting candidates in the hands of its GOP voters.

But the results of this month’s primary, where carbon pipeline opponents and tax reform advocates ousted numerous incumbents, have some card-carrying Republicans now in support of overhauling the primary system.

“After what happened … I think that might have changed my mind,” Huron Rep. Roger Chase said. “We had a small group that changed the Legislature based on emotion.”

Those satisfied with the outcome of last week’s election also acknowledge the implications the results could have on the Open Primaries vote and potentially the future of the state GOP.

Sioux Falls Rep. Chris Karr said he’s concerned Amendment H’s passage would “kill conservatism.”

“Conservatives are coming out with this big win, and it could be the last time we have this big of a win if Open Primaries is successful,” he said.

GOP Chairman John Wiik declined to comment when asked if the June 4 primary results have exacerbated challenges the party faces in its attempts to defeat Amendment H, as well as put added pressure on him to bridge intraparty divisions before November.

Election results bring support to ending South Dakota's closed primaries Card-carrying Republicans signal newfound openness to Open Primaries campaign

Open primaries lets all voters vote. "Yes" on 'H' to be heard.

Just in from South Dakota News Watch, Inc.
Poll: Majority of South Dakotans want new system for primary elections. “The statewide survey . . . showed that 55% of respondents favored the plan to change the state’s election format, with 33% opposed and 12% undecided.”
Read about it here: https://www.sdnewswatch.org/poll-shows-south-dakotans-support-open-primary-voting-system/?ref=sd-news-watch-newsletter

Vote Yes on H! Top-two primaries for South Dakota