While up at the South Dakota State Capitol today, I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation on Senate Bill 13, a measure that was amended by Senator Schoenbeck to have the party candidates for Attorney General and Secretary of State chosen as part of the primary process.
While listening, I decided to offer my 2 cents worth. Here is (roughly) my testimony in favor of the measure:
Good morning – Mr. Chair and committee members.
Pat Powers, Brookings resident and 35 year volunteer and political activist.
Through legislation, the political parties have been granted great latitude and franchise to choose many of their statewide candidates on their own for the general election.. It has changed over the years within those guidelines, and I would offer some history as a participant.
In 1988 , when I first started working in politics, the down ticket candidates for the Republican Party were chosen by a little over 100 people at my first convention.
In 1990, the system was changed, because the GOP chair decided he needed more campaign workers for precinct level poll-watching, to cross names off of green bar sheets for each precinct and so it was opened up to 800-1000 people.
Over time, technology has rendered those precinct level jobs obsolete. So now it’s a group of people who just show up and vote, and that’s about it. They have no special qualifications other than signing a piece of paper. I’m a precinct person – one of the first ones who filled out the form this year. And trust me, the people at the precinct level positions do not go door to door or otherwise poll or ask the voters in their precincts for their opinions. They show up to convention and just make their own call.
This measure proposes increasing the number of people who choose to the electorate at large for two offices. I would ask the members of the committee – don’t be afraid of the voters. More so than smaller groups of unrepresentative people acting on their own, the voters as a group are smart people and acting together they make good decisions.
If voters at large can choose their coroner, their county auditor, legislators and governor in a primary, they can choose their Attorney General and Secretary of State the same way as well.
Thank you for your yes vote on Senate Bill 13 as amended.
The measure passed committee unanimously, and is now headed to the Senate floor.
Excellent testimony!
Nice work PP. Didn’t know it was up again. This needs to happen — 300 people shouldn’t be allowed to choose the AG and SOS for the entire state. Send this to the people What are they afraid of? The same legislators that are elected by the public are afraid of the voters? I still think it’s people who want to cling to control of who is elected — a lot easier for them to hijack an office when the need 300 votes to win. It’s a student council election.
There’s so many of us old Republicans who don’t go to convention for a variety of reasons… family reunions, kid activities, working shifts at the hospital, etc. Let us all vote in a primary for these important offices. And don’t make it easy for disgruntled candidates to pop up the week before or the night before — just like running for the Legislature, these candidates should have to gather petition signatures to get on the ballot.
This is common sense and the Democrats should join Republicans in voting for this common sense legislation.
I’ve been to about ten conventions and there was a time I might have agreed with those opposing this bill. But not now. There is a loud minority that are trying use the convention to benefit themselves and choose their cronies for these offices. Party bosses are stacking the convention with their conspiracy theorist friends. PP is right – it doesn’t take much to show up to the convention. Someone with an ax to grind and time on their hands can quickly go to work and stack a convention with a bunch of friends. Meanwhile, we have 120,000 or more voting in a primary who get no voice. They wouldn’t have voted for Natvig for AG. Let’s trust the will of the primary voters, and not leave these decisions to a few hundred people. I can’t believe this is even a debate.
many of the voters you speak to don’t want to select statewide candidates in a primary?
If they don’t want to vote in a primary they don’t have to, you know
Mr. Zitterich, a precinct committeeman hisownself in the slum regions of Sioux Falls, not only goes door to door, but hosts regular BBQ feeds for his precinct at his now-closed used car lot. You can’t tell grudznick that at least one of these fellows doesn’t listen to his constituents and operates with a vast, public backing at the ground roots level.
BuwahahahaHAHAHAHA!
Mr. Z is an Ultra MAGA precinct committeeman and he personally deliver’s his Sioux Falls Community Chronicle weekly addition to each home. Mr. Z’s long winded speeches have his constituents capitulating to his wishes. Everything is under control in Mr. Z’s precinct.
Mr Z’s precinct, Minnehaha 0522, voted thusly in the last primary:
Thune 87
Whalen 21
Mowry 12
Johnson 62
Howard 60
Haugaard 45
Noem 74
In the ’22 general election:
Thune 377
Bengs 373
Lesnar 61
Duprel 302
Johnson 437
Smith 467
Quint 40
Noem 309
Mr Z failed to deliver his precinct for the governor in the ’22 General election. He FAILED.
Votes at convention are weighted according to the number of votes cast for the governor in the previous general election.
Perhaps the precinct committee people who failed to deliver their precincts for the governor should be asked to stand down.
Interesting. Yes, the popular vote across the state in the primary came in for Noem. But at the same time, the voters also chose to elect precinct committee people that supported Steve Haugard for Lt. Governor. The legislators are not being honest here, there are more than 300 people that vote in the convention. More like 1,500 people representing the districts, counties, and precincts. A more broad opinion of State can be seen by the opinions of the precincts that has equal voice. The popular vote only reflects the peoples choice for governor. The Lt. Governor is not chosen by a popular vote of 10 counties but each precinct equally. Not sure the reason you call out one precinct person here, but there seems to be a vandetta against one precinct person. Maybe you need to look in the mirror, and rethink your political passions.
Yes there are more than 300 people who vote at the convention. But typically, all it takes is about 300 votes to win the election. Sometimes it takes fewer than 300 actual votes, because if you know how the convention works, you know each of those delegates have a weighted vote based on the number of Republican voters in their county and secondly, by how many delegates show up from that county. So if one delegate shows up from Butte county, they cast all the votes for their county Republicans, which may be worth more than a single delegate out of Minnehaha county.
The convention delegates in no way represent the 120,000 people who actually voted in the election, especially when they are specifically recruited by activists trying to manipulate the party for their own goals. The convention has become a way to game the system and the solution here is to let Republican primary voters vote for these important offices. Why are people afraid of letting all primary voters vote? This really is a no brainer, except for those who want to cling to their power.
You are correct. each of those Delegates do not represent 119,000 voters that voted in the primary. They represent a small block of voters that elected them personally.
Each of the 35 Delegates represent the voters in each of the Legislative Districts outside the Legislature itself.
Each of the County Committee People represent the voices and opinions of the people in their counties, the male represents the male, and the female represents the female voters.
The same for the Precinct People. They each represent a small block of voters in their precincts, their neighborhoods.
In fact, they all probally represent the people more closely than the overall opinion of the popular vote. For they tell you the beliefs, and thought of the people themselves, and all the discussions that are had in those communities.
Lee Schoenbeck and Helen Duhamel both made claims that these people are not in tune by the beliefs of the people. These people are very intuned alongside the voters. They understand the people closest to them.
Quite frankly, the Established Legislative Members of the Senate are today, claiming these 3 at-large officials carry greater importance versus the other members. They are all important. That is the reason the founders placed them in a convention format forcing them to meet directly side by side to the voters.
SB13 most likely does not survive the State House.
The Founders did not establish the convention delegates as we see today. Do a little homework. The convention delegates were greatly expanded over thirty years ago in order to recruit volunteers.
The Founders established the convention format to choose these At Large representatives. They left it up to the States to Qualify specific people to become electors at the convention. Most times a person had to be a property holder (land), under the State, and a resident of voting district, typically a county or precinct. The format is a result of the Ordinance of 1788 leading to creations of States. The political parties have since erroded much of the convention system stealing the control from the actual people themselves. South Dakota has a very unique and probally best format, that opens the door to a larger group of people. I am sorry that the establishment is afraid of the people.
“In fact, they all probally represent the people more closely than the overall opinion of the popular vote. For they tell you the beliefs, and thought of the people themselves, and all the discussions that are had in those communities.”
This quote pretty much sums up the the thought process of the far right group. “You voters are too stupid to know what you want so let us tell you what you really think.”
That is also the mantra of the far left, but the wing nuts are trying to perfect it at the state level. Radical extremism is bad no matter what side of the political spectrum they are on.
I would wager that more people have had enough of conspiracy theorists burning down the party.
We’re just getting started.
I ran into Senator Nesiba at the Lifescape event after session yesterday, and he (jokingly said) that he wasn’t sure if he did something wrong by agreeing with Pat Powers. I assured him it was all good being part of the unanimous vote on this one.