This is starting to make the rounds. And you could see this coming from a mile away.

From the reports I’m hearing, the balloting process is hitting a nightmare stage in some counties.  Someone remarked to me that in one county, they had in the neighborhood of 150 different ballots they have to wrangle.

I’ve posted about this a few times, and it may blow up the system on the first outing.

There was a solution provided during the legislative session. Except, it involved a machine, so it was doomed to failure in this environment populated with luddites:

Brown County Auditor Lynn Heupel said the change would be beneficial for both voters and election workers.

“With the ballot on demand, what would happen is they pull that voter up and select that voter, it would automatically print their ballot for them so there wouldn’t be any possible confusion of picking the wrong ballot for the voter,” Heupel told KELOLAND News Tuesday.

Read that here.

As I wrote back in January, the changes in South Dakota Law have made a challenging situation for elections officials at the school, municipal, and county levels even more difficult with the addition of more races in counties. School district boundaries and city maps don’t always match up with county lines. And breaking it down even further are different ballots needed for Independents, Republicans and Democrats within the June primary.

Now, we’re going to find out in practical terms what the 2025 change in law did to over-complicate our election system.  (Somehow, I think we’re going to see the balloting-on-demand system make a return visit next session.)

Gov. Rhoden Announces New Gunsmithing Program at Western Dakota Tech

 RAPID CITY, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden announced the addition of a new gunsmithing curriculum to Western Dakota Technical College, advancing South Dakota’s pro-2nd Amendment values and expanding the workforce for South Dakota’s defense and firearms industries.

“South Dakota is the most Second Amendment-friendly state in America, and our firearms industry is thriving,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “As other states infringe on the 2nd Amendment rights of their citizens and chase away firearms producers, South Dakota is welcoming them with open arms. This new gunsmithing program will support our growing firearms industry and attract even more guns and ammunition manufacturers to South Dakota!”

Governor Rhoden is awarding $4 million from the Future Fund to Western Dakota Technical College to support the purchase of equipment and related assets and ultimately acquire an accredited gunsmithing school in Colorado. The program will expand hands-on training and help meet workforce needs across South Dakota’s defense and firearms industries. Graduates of the current program find careers with law enforcement, military agencies, and firearm manufacturers.

“Western Dakota Technical College is committed to providing training and education that meets the needs of our industries and South Dakota students,” said Kendra Ericson, president of Western Dakota Technical College. “This allows us to expand our programs and prepare students for high-demand careers while supporting continued industry growth.”

The announcement was attended by several firearms companies headquartered in South Dakota – many of which moved here from states infringing on the 2nd Amendment rights of their citizens. Attendees also included leadership from Western Dakota Technical College, the Board of Technical Education, Rapid City Government, Elevate Rapid City, Pete Lien and Sons Shooting Sports Complex.

This announcement builds upon Governor Rhoden’s announcement last week of a new South Dakota Defense Institute in Rapid City. The new gunsmithing program at Western Dakota Tech will support South Dakota’s growing defense industry.

“When I met with Dr. Ericson on my Open for Opportunity Tour visit last year, we discussed this possibility. I went back to the office and got to work to make it happen,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “We are here today to celebrate the results of that meeting, and another win for our students, our workforce, our businesses, and our firearms industry.”

Western Dakota Technical College is expected to accept their first class into the program in the fall of 2027.

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After attempting to boot Attorney General Marty Jackley from the congressional ballot (unsuccessfully, I might add), Congressional d-list candidate James Bialota should probably start focusing on his own paperwork in the Congressional race. Because it would not appear that he’s filed any yet, at least according to the Federal Elections Commission and the House of Representatives.

According to the FEC, as of the end of January, Bialota claimed to have neither raised nor spent $5000 in the race for Congress.

And as far as the financial disclosure paperwork required of congressional candidates, that paperwork is also a great sucking void of information as well, despite a new due date having come and gone since February 5, according to the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

James is kind of running out of space to actually disclose anything in the 48 days before the primary election is scheduled to happen.

Rules for thee…

 

The Dusty for Governor campaign continues it’s efforts to own the June primary, as the Friends of Dusty Johnson just reported that they transferred $1 Million dollars over from the congressional account to the gubernatorial campaign in the last quarterly report:

April Dusty Johnson FEC Report by Pat Powers

$1500 in contributions (because he’s not running for congress anymore), $4414.20 spent, $1,000,000.00 transferred over to other authorized committees (Dusty for Governor).

That leaves (only) $4,624,512.07 cash on hand to help the effort through the next quarter. In this account.

You know, I think I’d be good with that.

Grant County Republicans are hosting a Lincoln Day Dinner on April 24th in Milbank. Check it out:

The SDGOP has filed their latest FEC report.

And I’m just shocked. Shocked I tell you! But once again, the SDGOP has somehow managed to once again raise less than $50:

AprilSDGOPFECReport by Pat Powers

SDGOP Chairman (& 32-year former Democrat) Jim Eschenbaum’s GOP managed a $45 donation and $4.01 in interest, against $1997.13 of spending, leaving the leading political party in the state with $29,665.52 cash on hand.  That’s dipping below 30K for the first time as long as I can remember.

That’s a declining trend which makes one ask how they intend to run a political party? Or a political party convention for that matter.

Thune Calls Out Senate Democrats’ Hypocritical Opposition to Voter ID

“[I]t turns out that when Democrats say they support voter ID … they don’t mean actual IDs.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor: 

Click here to watch the video.

How much research did Aaron Aylward actually do before he agreed to do this?

You never know what’s going to happen this election season.

 

Democrat defector Peri Pourier, who is now in the House Republican Caucus, and who has also thrown her hat into the race for Public Utilities Commission may have hit a bump in the road for her ambitions for 2026.

The rumor mill is on fire today with word that Pourier had sent in petitions to the Secretary of State’s office to run. Except there was allegedly a problem. The registered mail date was at the last possible day to send them in. But the time stamp was for 5:08 PM.

Which if you look at the law, that’s a no-no.

12-6-4. Petition required to place candidate’s name on primary ballot–Time and place of filing.

Except as provided by § 12-5-4 and as may be otherwise provided in chapter 12-9, no candidate for any office to be filled, or nomination to be made, at either or both the primary or general election, other than a presidential election, may have that person’s name printed upon the official primary election ballot of that person’s party, unless a petition has been filed on that person’s behalf after December thirty-first and by the last Tuesday of March at five p.m. local time before the date of the primary election. If the petition is mailed by registered mail by the last Tuesday of March at five p.m. local time before the primary election, the petition shall be considered timely submitted.

Uh oh. There is not a lot of wiggle room there. If true, and they were sent at 5:08, missing the 5pm deadline, Pourier may have to run as an independent, if not just skipping it entirely for her PUC ambtions.

There was also talk that Liz May had her petitions sent in the same batch, but I do see that Hillary Clinton’s favorite donor from Kyle, SD, had her petitions posted this AM.

Stay tuned.

SECRETARY OF STATE ANNOUNCES UNSUCCESSFUL CHALLENGE TO U.S. HOUSE PETITIONS

(Pierre, S.D.) – Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson has announced that James Bialota’s challenge to Attorney General Marty Jackley’s candidate petitions was unsuccessful. Attorney General Jackley will remain on the ballot as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives at the Primary Election held on June 2, 2026.

A Republican candidate for U.S. House requires 2,171 valid signatures to appear on the ballot. April 1, 2026, the Secretary of State’s office completed the random sample of the petition signatures and found 86.7 percent to be valid.

Based on the results of the random sample, 3,168 signatures were deemed valid. Mr. Bialota’s challenge resulted in seven additional signatures within the random sample being deemed invalid. This impacted the overall validity rate by a little over one percent leaving Jackley with 3,126 valid signatures.

For more information on candidates who will be on the ballot at the Primary Election, please see the candidate list on the Secretary of State’s website: https://vip.sdsos.gov/candidatelist.aspx?eid=773.