South Dakota elections, 2012

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The state of South Dakota held elections in 2012. Below are the dates of note:

• Signature filing deadline: November 1, 2011 (CISS); November 7, 2011 (CICA); & March 27, 2012 (Candidates);
• Primary date: June 5, 2012
• General election date: November 6, 2012

On the 2012 ballot			Click here for all November 6, 2012 Election Results
U.S. Senate	d	Preview Article
U.S. House (1 seat)	a
State Executives (2 down-ballot seats)	a	Preview Article Pending
State Senate (35 seats)	a	Preview Article
State House (70 seats)	a
Ballot measures (6 measures)	a	Preview Article

2012 Elections

Note: Election information listed on this page does not pertain to 2012 presidential elections. For more about Ballotpedia's areas of coverage, click here.
For election results in the 50 states, see our November 6, 2012 election results page

U.S. House

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in South Dakota, 2012

Members of the U.S. House from South Dakota -- Partisan Breakdown
Party		As of November 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	0	0
	Republican Party	1	1
Total		1	1

District	General Election Candidates	Incumbent	2012 Winner	Partisan Switch?
At-large	Matt Varilek Kristi Noem	Kristi Noem	Kristi Noem	No

State Executives

See also: South Dakota state executive official elections, 2012

Two state executive positions were up for election.

• South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (two seats)

South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Seat 1 General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Chris Nelson Incumbent	67%	226,508
	Democratic	Nick Nemec	33%	111,405
Total Votes				337,913
Election results via South Dakota Secretary of State

South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Seat 2 General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Matt McGovern	40.4%	140,443
	Republican	Kristie Fiegen Incumbent	53.9%	187,383
	Libertarian	Russell Clarke	5.7%	19,696
Total Votes				347,522
Election results via South Dakota Secretary of State

State Senate

See also: South Dakota State Senate elections, 2012

Heading into the election, Republicans maintained partisan control in the state senate.

South Dakota State Senate
Party		As of November 5, 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	5	7
	Republican Party	30	28
Total		35	35

State House

See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2012

Heading into the election, Republicans maintained partisan control in the state house.

South Dakota House of Representatives
Party		As of November 5, 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	19	17
	Republican Party	50	53
	Vacancy	1	0
Total		70	70

Ballot measures

See also: South Dakota 2012 ballot measures

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment M	Constitutions	Deals with modernizing language dealing with corporations in the state.	d
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment N	Admin. of gov't.	Strikes a travel reimbursement provision from the state constitution.	d
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment O	State budgets	Changes amount taken each year from state cement-plant trust fund.	a
LRCA	Constitutional Amendment P	State legislatures	Places language in the state constitution saying that the budget must be balanced.	a
VR	Referred Law 14	Taxes	Dedicates part of tax revenues for grants to some business projects in the state.	d
VR	Referred Law 16	Labor	Blocks a bill that would ban tenure and give bonuses to top teachers among other provisions.	d
CISS	Initiated Measure 15	Taxes	Implements a one-percent sales tax increase.	d

Eligibility to Vote

Primary election

See also: Voting in the 2012 primary elections

South Dakota was one of 21 states to use a closed primary system, although Independents could vote in the Democratic primary. Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by May 21, 2012, which was 15 days before the primary took place. (Information about registering to vote)

General election

See also: Voting in the 2012 general elections

The deadline to register to vote was 15 days prior to the election day, which in 2012 was October 22.

• Voter ID info
• Residency requirements: Resident
• Same-day registration: None

Voting absentee

See also: Absentee Voting

All voters are eligible to vote absentee in South Dakota. There are no special eligibility requirements for voting absentee.

To vote absentee, an absentee ballot application must be received by county election officials no later than 5 p.m. the day before the election. A completed absentee ballot must then be received by election officials by the close of polls on Election Day.

Voting early

See also: Early voting

South Dakota is one of 34 states that has early voting with no specific requirements as to who can vote early. Completed ballots must be returned to the county election official by close of polls on Election Day.

See also

• Statewide elections, 2012
• 2012 election dates
• Election result resources
• Voter guides
• State Blue Books
• State Poll Opening and Closing Times (2012)
• Voting in South Dakota
• Absentee voting
• Early voting
• South Dakota political committees fined July 30, 2012
• South Dakota voter registration down August 14, 2012