Today is drop-out day for the fall ballot!

Today is actually notable in the fall elections, as according to the Secretary of State, “the deadline to withdraw from the 2020 November 3rd General Election is August 4, 2020 at 5:00 pm local time.”

Furthermore, if you’re thinking of getting out while the getting is good, according to the SOS “There is no registered mail option for the withdrawal form to be received by the filing office after the deadline,” and “the office where the petition was filed must receive the candidate withdrawal form before the county central committee(s) meet(s) to appoint someone to fill the vacant candidate spot.”

Who have we dropped so far? There have already been a couple of replacements, as I reported last week.

Since then we’ve added Josh Halsey, Democrat from District 3 Senate, who has dropped out, as well as Joan Stamm, Democrat of District 8 House.

Republican State Senate Candidate Bill Hines of District 27 also unexpectedly dropped out at the last minute last week, and the GOP is holding a (virtual) replacement meeting to fill the position on Monday, August 10, 2020 at 5 PM – 6 PM, according to an announcement:

Due to the withdrawal of Bill Hines from the District 27 House of Representatives race, the South Dakota Republican Party will be holding a candidate replacement meeting to elect a new candidate.

All members of the County Central Committees (and residents of District 27), from the following counties are invited to attend and vote in an election to replace the candidate:

Bennett, Haakon, Jackson, Oglala Lakota, and a portion of eastern Pennington

Any Republican from District 27 may run for the position. This meeting will be held virtually. If you are interested in attending, please contact SDGOP Political Director, Dave Roetman by emailing [email protected].

If you’re in those areas, and want to run to be a candidate, reach out to the SDGOP.

After any further ballot dropouts are filed today by 5pm, the deadline for the party central committee(s) to fill vacancies is August 11, 2020 at 5:00 pm local time, so time is short.