The hits keep on coming for Cory Heidelberger’s renegade petition circulators at the Sioux Empire fair, after a correspondent had sent me pictures of unattended petitions that were set out for people to sign, from Saturday.
I had this report from another person from this weekend, where it sounds as if the people circulating the petitions were just making stuff up as they witnessed their sales pitch and activity at the booth (when they bothered to be there).
Here’s what’s being reported to me that was said:
“Are you a registered voter in South Dakota?”
– probably 4 out of 5 people quip back “NOPE!” 🤣 people don’t want to sign it.Some other selling points:
“We lost access to the ballot last year.”
“Help us restore our rights.”
“Will you sign our petition to restore our rights?”One person summarized it to his friends by saying, “sign this to restore your first amendment rights…basically.” The organizer then agreed, “that’s a great summary! I’m going to use that one.”
Wow. According to the Attorney General, here’s what the measure actually does:
This measure changes and repeals laws regarding ballot measures. It eliminates some information a petition circulator must provide to a petition signer, including circulator contact information and a statement whether the circulator is paid. It eliminates the requirement that sponsors submit circulator residency information.
It repeals the law barring individuals from sponsoring or circulating petitions for four years if they have committed multiple petition-law violations.
It repeals the law extending the Legislative Research Council’s deadline for reviewing initiated measures received during legislative session. It changes fiscal note requirements for initiated measures and initiated constitutional amendments, and removes fiscal notes from the ballot for these types of measures.
It decreases the time in which the Attorney General must file a title and explanation for initiated measures and initiated amendments.
It repeals the law prohibiting an initiated measure from embracing more than one subject.
Currently, sponsors must file signed initiative petitions with the Secretary of State at least one year prior to the general election. The measure changes this deadline to four months prior.
Under this measure, most voter-approved ballot measures would take effect the day after the official vote canvass, rather than the following July 1 as the law currently states.
Read that here.
What does that have to do with the statement “We lost access to the ballot last year?”
Well, nothing, because that’s a lie. If anything, the measure is attempting to restrict information and rights from South Dakota voters.
And the people out at the Sioux Empire fair appear to be a deceptive lot. Underlining why limiting information to voters is a bad idea.