The effort to change the name of Shannon County to Oglala Lakota County faces one final hurdle in the state legislature.
The Senate State Affairs Committee gave unanimous support to the resolution allowing the name change. The measure passed the House earlier this session.
Democratic Representative Kevin Killer represents part of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Killer backs the change and helped get the issue on the county ballot in November. Killer says the new name received strong support both at the ballot box and in a petition drive leading up to the election.
“We had an 80 percent vote on changing the name from Shannon County to Oglala Lakota County and, before that process we had to take around petitions and we had to collect around 15 percent of the total voters but we actually got 25 percent of all registered voters in Oglala Lakota County which was a feat onto itself,” says Killer.
The name change resolution is headed next to the Senate floor. Five lawmakers voted against the proposed name change in the House. Governor Daugaard says he supports the resolution.