On February 20, the South Dakota Senate defeated SB 82, which would have altered how parties nominate candidates for Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Land Commissioner, and Public Utilities Commission. Current law says party nominees for those positions are chosen in state conventions. The bill would have ended nomination by convention for those offices, and instead provided for primaries.

The vote in the Senate was 11-22. All Democrats who participated in the roll call supported the bill, but Republicans rejected it 4-22. Four Republican Senators who had voted for the bill in Committee voted against it on the Senate floor. The State Chair of the Republican Party had urged the defeat of the bill after it had passed Committee.