Even though this sensitive information was exposed by mistake, the elected officials responsible for running our elections and keeping sensitive data confidential have an obligation to be transparent with impacted voters.

It’s no secret that some of the state's elected leaders have tried over the years to disenfranchise the voting rights of residents who use mail-forwarding services. But it’s vitally important that people be allowed to exercise their rights to vote and to travel – without repercussions to either.

Trained election observers will be monitoring polling locations in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen to watch for any issues that would disenfranchise voters, including questions about individual voter eligibility and mass challenges to absentee ballots.  

Voter purge violates National Voter Registration Act. Swift action is needed to ensure no eligible voters are disenfranchised.

The ACLU of South Dakota urges the Minnehaha County Recount Board to count all unlawfully rejected ballots and asks that no voters will be removed from the voter registration rolls based on these challenges and that no improper challenges will be entertained during the Nov. 5 general election.

The South Dakota Office of Hearing Examiners affirmed last month that the Oglala Sioux Tribe could not be required to pay the City of Martin’s legal fees to receive public records. Unfortunately, in that same decision, the examiner failed to protect the Tribe’s sovereign immunity.

South Dakota laws already place significant requirements on how ballot measures are publicly presented. House Bill 1244 infringes on citizens’ rights to gather the thousands of petition signatures necessary to place questions on statewide ballots.

South Dakota has been heralded as the freest state in the nation – but restricting access to one of the most fundamental rights we have as Americans, participating in our democracy through voting, strips new residents of their freedom to take part in our elections.

Senate Bill 119 would allow Native American voters to register to vote using their Tribal identification on the same par as a state-issued driver’s license.