Liz May – the voice of “no” in adding women to the South Dakota State Constitution.

In an election issue that has been debated all the way back to the late 1800’s, South Dakotans are being asked this year to revisit the language of our South Dakota Constitution.

As they did nearly 135 years ago, South Dakotans are being asked to go back and fix some language in our State Constitution that people thought should have been included. Predictably, Hillary Clinton donor and State Representative Liz May doesn’t know why we’d want to engage in such tom-foolery, since she’s trapped in the 90’s. (the 1890’s).

From the Secretary of State:

Title: An Amendment to the South Dakota Constitution Updating Gender References for Certain Officeholders and Persons.

Attorney General 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 the State Constitution 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.

Con – Constitutional Amendment E

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 gereric 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

Read that here.

Not sure what you do with that?

In case you’re interested, State Senator Erin Tobin provided the “Pro” on the measure, which was supported and suggested by Governor Kristi Noem:

Pro – Constitutional Amendment E

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.

I urge the South Dakota voters to vote “yes” for this amendment.
Such a vote would be a show of respect for our state’s past, present,
and future female leaders!

Erin Tobin, State Senator, District 1

*Sigh* And of course, once again, the SOS can’t get that right, since Erin is in District 21. Because “30,000 copies of this publication were printed by the Office of the Secretary of State at a cost of $0.28 each.” And proofreading is hard. Ugh.

In case Liz May needed an interlude reminding her that Women can vote, here’s that episode of Schoolhouse Rock she missed: