De Knudson wants all voters to have the chance to decide elections in South Dakota.
That’s why she’s found herself, yet again, collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would open up primary elections. Doing so would give all registered voters a chance to narrow down the candidates who would appear on the general election ballot.
Knudson is treasurer for South Dakota Open Primaries. She is one of several petition circulators across the state collecting signatures for the open primaries ballot measure. With more than 44,000 signatures gathered to date, Knudson said, the group has already collected in excess of the 35,017 needed to get the item on the ballot.
The goal is to have 50,000 signatures before petitions are turned in on or before the submission deadline of May 7, she said.
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Provided the petitions are certified by the South Dakota secretary of state and the measure is on the Nov. 5 ballot, voters will be asked to decide if the state’s primary election system should be revamped.
Now in South Dakota, registered Republicans decide primary races involving GOP candidates, while Democrats and independent/unaffiliated voters can cast ballots in Democratic primaries.
In an open primary, all registered voters can cast ballots on all races — regardless of political party. The top two vote getters for every open spot would then advance to the general election.
For example, every state legislative district has one senator. So the top two candidates in the primary would move on to November, even if they are of the same political party. In a House race, four candidates would advance because there are two seats per district.
Open primaries would ‘even the playing field’
“This would even the playing field to vote in the South Dakota primary,” Knudson said during a recent visit to Aberdeen.
She describes the current system as one that disenfranchises South Dakota voters. Half the state’s voters are registered Republicans. Democrats comprise 24% and independent voters make up 14.7% with another 10% unaffiliated with a party. There are also about 3,000 Libertarians.
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But, Knudson said, many of the legislative races are determined by Republicans. Of the 35 races on the ballot in November 2022, 21 were not contested by someone from a different party, she said.
“We believe all voters matter,” she said.
Similar issue presented to voters in 2016
Discussing allowing more people to vote in the primary election is not new in South Dakota.
Knudson said she was involved with the effort to pass Constitutional Amendment V, which went to the voters in 2016. That effort sought to establish non-partisan elections by removing party labels from the candidates on the ballot.
With 44% in favor, the measure didn’t pass, but, Knudson said, there was enough support to rework the idea and return to the voters in 2017 with a petition to create open primaries. That effort, however, didn’t make it to the ballot.
Petitions were circulated, she said, and submitted to the secretary of state’s office, but they didn’t survive the verification process.
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This time, however, Knudson said she’s hopeful South Dakota Open Primaries will not only get enough signatures, but also survive the verification process, which involves randomly checking a percentage of the signatures collected. The group has an outside company verifying all the signatures that have been collected, she said.
If the proposal is on the ballot, Knudson said she’s confident voters will endorse it. She cited a South Dakota News Watch poll conducted in January to support that claim.
In that poll, 49.4% of the registered voters surveyed supported the idea of open primaries with 34% opposed. Another 16% were undecided. Even if those undecided voters split their support, that gives open primaries more than 50% support.
“I don’t think this will ever be a landslide,” Knudson said. “We’re working very hard to educate people on open primaries.”
She also said the open primary effort has garnered support from both Republicans and Democrats.
It would apply to races for congressional seats, governor, legislature and county offices, she said. The process of selecting other statewide candidates at party conventions would not change.
Knudson said estimates from the Legislative Research Council show a change in the way primary elections are conducted could result in more than 50,000 additional citizens voting. She sees that as a good thing.
“How great is that that we would create a system where more people would vote,” she said. “It’s an exciting time for South Dakota.”
Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Washington, D.C. are also considering open primaries this year.
Knudsons have been involved in government
Knudson is registered Republican and previously served on the Sioux Falls City Council. Her husband, David, previously served as chief of staff for Gov. Bill Janklow from 1995 to 1999, was in the South Dakota Legislature from 2003 to 2010 and was a candidate for governor in 2010.
Though she didn’t expect to be involved in another effort to get open primaries on the ballot, she said she had to give it one last try.
“To me this is a huge game changer for South Dakota,” Knudson said. “It’s refreshing and exciting, and I’m extremely proud to be this involved again. … I have to finish this one more time.”