By Amendment E is one of seven ballot measures South Dakotans will vote on Nov. 5.
Recaps of all of the proposals will be published in The Aberdeen Insider throughout October. Find information about all of the measures at southdakotasearchlight.com. Click on the brown voter guide button at the top of the page on the right.
Amendment E would update gender references for certain officeholders and people. Details about the proposal follow.
Attorney general’s explanation
The South Dakota Constitution became effective upon the state joining the United States in 1889. The generic male pronouns he, his and him are used in the text of to reference certain officeholders or individuals.
This amendment changes the text of the State Constitution to remove the use of generic male pronouns when referencing certain officeholders or individuals. For example, when referencing the governor, instead of saying “he shall be commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the state,” the text will be changed to read “the governor shall be commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the state.”
The amendment makes similar changes to other references to the governor, as well as to references to other officeholders including lieutenant governor, Supreme Court justices, and circuit court judges. The amendment also makes similar changes to references in the Constitution to general classes of people such as persons, electors and public officers.
Vote yes to adopt the amendment.
Vote no to leave the Constitution as it is.
Official pro and con statements
The South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office is directed by state law to publish pro and con statements from a proponent and opponent of each ballot question.
Pro statement
Amendment E will rightfully update the language within our State Constitution to reflect our elected and appointed officials pertaining to the office in which they hold.
South Dakota has a long history of strong female representation in all three branches of government, and the constitution should accurately reflect these esteemed members of our government.
As a mother of a little girl in South Dakota, I want all young women to realize that they can grow up to do anything they set their mind to, and they too have potential to lead our state in their profession and/or politics.
A vote yes for this amendment would be a show of respect for our state’s past, present and future female leaders.
Erin Tobin, state senator, District 21
Con statement
Amendment E is an unnecessary change to language in our South Dakota Constitution.
The reference to “he” in our Constitution is simply a singular pronoun. The historic use of generic male pronouns in our constitution is proper style and form and clearly does not exclude or hinder women from holding public office.
While this seems like a minor change now, opening up the constitution in order to correct pronouns will not accomplish anything substantive, but will cost taxpayer dollars to reprint materials that are already effective in their current form.
Liz May, state representative, District 27