1. It is unusual for a county to want to change its name. And especially change to one which does not have an English or Irish root. the and that passed with a rather large majority – Oglala Lakota – apparently has native-American heritage

   What would be nice is to see a group within this county to organize a local political party and call it the Oglala Lakota Independence Party. Organizing such a party at this timely manner would help in it catching on, as I see nothing about the name Oglala Lakota which would resonate with eiher the Democratic or Republican party.

   Any Oglala Lakota readers out there?

2. To get on the ballot required signatures from 15% of registered voters. They turned in 1800 (about 23%), but ended up barely reaching 15% (1193 vs 1167) valid signatures.

3. According to Wikipedia, what was Shannon County is desperately poor and entirely self contained on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. “The county’s per-capita income makes it the second poorest county in the United States, as of the 2000 census.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_County,_South_Dakota

4. I checked to see how Shannon County (now to be Oglala Lakota County)voted for President in 2012 and it was almost 94% Democrat (Obama). The state overall voted for Romney by almost 58%. There is obviously a great divide and a political bias between the Establishment in South Dakota and the people of Shannon County.

   Tom, above, noted that Shannon County is the second poorest county in the United States. This says alot. And Jim Riley said it took 15% of signatures of registered voters to get the name change measure on the ballot.

   I wonder how many signatures it takes for a county party (other than Democratic or Republican) to get on the ballot, and if an autonomous county party is denied such ballot position, how many signatures must a Independent candidate have to get ballot position?

   The latter may be the only way they could form a Oglala Lakota Independence Party – just have each candidate nominated at a County Convention to individually petition for a spot on the ballot.

   I have sympathy for our Native Americans more than any other so-called minority in the United States. If land was stolen from anyone, it was stolen from the Native Americans. If I lived in Oglala Lakota County and was a member of the largest tribe by blood, I would be leading the way to build that Oglala Lakota County Independence Party, and would use it as a political center to get more economic aid for the county, but also see what the county could do for itself via democratic autarchy to bring prosperity to its people.

   More power to you, the people of Oglala Lakota!

5. South Dakota law doesn’t permit a party to be formed in just part of the state. In the past, though, independent candidates in South Dakota could choose a partisan label that would be printed on the November ballot, but in 2007 the legislature repealed that and now only the word “independent” ispermitted for independent candidates.

6. Thanks, Richard, for bringing everyone up to date on what Independents could do in this new Oglala Lakota County. But would be surprised if the locals would see the advantage of forming an Independent organization and running their own candidates, since it appears based on the election returns from the 2012 Presidential election, they don’t care much for the GOP.

   It is interesting that such a high vote was cast for the Democratic presidential ticket in 2012 – almost 94%. That’s about what African-Americans gives the Democratic Party nationwide regardless of who their nominee is.
   In further research, I’ve learned the county has over 6,000 registered Democrats, a little over 1,000 registered as Independents, and less than 700 registered as Republicans.

   Pragmatically, their political activity would most likely remain within the Democratic Party, but the some 1,000 registered Independents could provide a base for an “alternative” choice if the Democratic Party became a local political machine.

   Will be interesting to see what direction this new political jurisdiction takes.

7. “Oglala Lakota County Independence Party”

   Tribes on federal reservations are already sovereign, “domestic dependent” nations. This is their status by treaty* and they cannot become more autonomous since Congress stopped signing new treaties with tribes in the late 1800’s.

   *A handful have also successfully obtained this status through Bureau of Indian Affairs since 1978.

8. This is what I thought, but did not want to include such wording in my previous replies. Thank you, DSZ, for enlightening me.

   Many of the tribes on the federal reservations, are “Americanized” in the sense they do not seem to want to show as much a degree of “independence” as they have the right to. (I base this opinion on one tribe which I have had some dealings with some of the citizens thereof).

   Still, if I lived in Oglala Lakota County, and was a bonafide member of that tribe, I would work day and night to organize a Oglala Lakota County Independence Party and educate the fellow tribesmen to break their habit of voting Democrat – a party which was as much guilty in stealing their lands as was other parties of that era.

   Richard has already written that South Dakota Election law prohibits a party from being organized in just part of the state, so the organization I suggested would have to be used and a County Convention held to nominate candidates. I’m sure the number of signatures for each Independent candidate would not be but a handful of voters, since the county has only about 11,000 people living there, with about 8,000 registered voters.

   Richard, would you have any way of informing us just how many signatures a Independent candidate for a county-wide office would need?

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