On March 6, the South Dakota Senate passed HB 1286. It makes some ballot access changes that are liberalizing, and some that are restrictive. The bill had already passed the House, but because the two versions differ, it must now return to the House.

It changes the non-presidential independent deadline from April to June. It lowers the number of signatures for a new party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1%, and moves the deadline from March to July.

But it also says that new parties, and smaller qualified parties, must submit petitions for each of their nominees, even though there are no more primaries for new or small parties. Furthermore, even though it is worded very confusingly, it now appears that it eliminates the ability of small or new parties to nominate for the lower state executive positions by convention. The Secretary of State wrote an e-mail on March 5 to a newspaper reporter, saying the bill does not change the method by which small or new parties nominate for the lower executive positions. But on the floor of the Senate, the Senator handling the bill said it eliminates that method, and that now new and small party candidates for these offices must also submit petitions. The number of signatures is not clearly specified in the bill.