Joe Kirby of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has filed a proposed initiative that will soon start to circulate. It would provide for a top-two system for South Dakota. Here is the text.
Kirby qualified an initiative similar to this in 2016, which was defeated 44.5%-55.5%. It only carried three counties, even though proponents spent $1,356,720 and opponents only spent $300,745. Most of the money in favor of the measure came from Texas billionaires John and Laura Arnold of Houston, Texas. The 2016 initiative removed all party labels from ballots for office other than president.
South Dakota has never allowed write-in voting. If this initiative were to become law, it is likely that most congressional and legislative races would feature only two Republicans on the general election ballot, and no one else, so Democrats would be largely unable to vote for a member of their party in the general election.
Under current law, independent voters can vote in Democratic primaries, but not Republican primaries. The only other ballot-qualified party, the Libertarian Party, nominates by convention. The proponents of the initiative refer to their initiative as an “open primary”, even though U.S. Supreme Court decisions and political science textbooks define “open primary” to be a system in which each party has its own primary ballot and its own nominees, but any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot.
