South Dakota Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative (2020)

South Dakota Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Redistricting measures
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens
List of South Dakota measuresInitiated Measure 26Constitutional Amendment AConstitutional Amendment BSubmit

The South Dakota Independent Redistricting Commission Initiative was not on the ballot in South Dakota as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.

The initiative would have established a five-member commission responsible for legislative redistricting every 10 years. As of 2019, the state legislature drew the legislative district maps. The commission established by the initiative would have consisted of one member each appointed by the majority and minority leaders of the state Senate and the state House and one member appointed by the secretary of state. Under the initiative, no more than two members of the commission could have been registered with the same political party.

The initiative would have also prohibited anyone who ran for or held public office or a position with a political party in the preceding three years from being a commission member and would prevent anyone from running or holding public office or being a political party official for three years after being a commission member.

The initiative would have required districts for the state House to be based on Senate districts and would require Senate districts to be drawn according to the following rules (in order of priority):

• equal in population and drawn in a grid-like manner,
• contiguous areas,
• minimal division of counties,
• minimal division of census blocks,
• making use of visible features of the state's geography,
• making districts as geographically compact as possible, and
• keeping similar socio-economic areas.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for this measure would have been as follows:

“

An amendment to the South Dakota Constitution providing for state legislative redistricting by a commission.

”

Ballot summary

The ballot explanation for this measure would have been as follows:

“

The Constitution currently requires the Legislature to establish legislative districts every ten years. This amendment removes that authority from the Legislature and grants it to a redistricting commission. The commission will redistrict in 2021 and every ten years thereafter. Under the amendment, the commission consists of five registered voters. The following individuals each appoint one member: the majority leader of the House of Representatives; the minority leader of the House of Representatives; the majority leader of the Senate; the minority leader of the Senate; and the Secretary of State. A commission member must have the same party registration, or be registered as unaffiliated with a party, for three continuous years immediately prior to appointment. No more than two commission members may belong to the same political party. For three years prior to and three years after a commission member's term, the member cannot be a candidate for or be elected to public office, nor be a political party official. Each district shall be equal in population to the extent possible and mapped in a grid-like pattern. Adjustments to the districts may be made based on state and federal law, and other factors as prioritized in the amendment.

”

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Background

Redistricting in South Dakota

See also: Redistricting in South Dakota

Going into the 2020 election and the 2020 census year, state legislative districts were drawn by the state legislature. A simple majority vote in each chamber was required to pass a redistricting plan, which was subject to veto by the governor.

Procedures for state legislative redistricting by state.

In 34 of the 50 states, state legislatures play the dominant role in state legislative redistricting. Commissions draw state legislative district lines in 14 states. In two states, hybrid systems are used, in which state legislature share redistricting authority with commissions. See the map and table below for further details.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in South Dakota

In South Dakota, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in the previous gubernatorial election. Signatures must be submitted by the first Tuesday of May during a general election year.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:

• Signatures: 33,921 valid signatures were required.
• Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was November 4, 2019.

Once the signatures have been gathered and filed, the secretary of state verifies the signatures using a random sample method.

Stages of this initiative

• Dan Ahlers submitted the initiative and received comments from the state legislative research council concerning the form and wording of the initiative on June 21, 2019.
• The attorney general issued a ballot title and explanation for the final version of the initiative on August 26, 2019.
• Proponents did not submit the required number of signatures by the deadline, therefore the initiative did not qualify for the 2020 ballot.

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Redistricting measures on the ballot

South Dakota

• South Dakota ballot measures
• South Dakota ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Initiative full text