Nine South Dakota legislators have introduced SB 95, which would let candidates for federal and state office get on a primary ballot by fee instead of by petition. The lead sponsor, Senator Ernie Otten (R-Tea), is the Senate Majority Whip, and the House Majority Whip, Representative Jim Bolin (R-Canton) is also a sponsor. All nine sponsors are Republicans.

The filing fee would be 1% of the salary of the office. The salary for South Dakota Governors is $107,121, so the fee would be $1,071.

If this bill were enacted, minor parties would be advantaged. Current law requires members of newly-qualifying parties to submit a petition of 250 party members, in order to get on that party’s primary ballot. Most new parties barely have that many registered voters, and the time for getting these signatures is short. Consequently, for the last eight years, the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party (the only ballot-qualified minor parties during that period) have not had gubernatorial nominees. Because the law removes parties from the ballot when they fail to get 2.5% for Governor, they always go off the ballot, and must re-petition every four years.