Constitutional Amendment H is one of many questions South Dakota voters will have to answer this election cycle.
Amendment H would open the primary voting process to more voters and reform the state primary system to allow the top two finishers onto the general ballot.
SDPB hosted a town hall forum Thursday night to allow voices on either side of the issue to make their case to voters. Juliann Talkington, representing the No on H group said primaries are already open.
“If somebody wishes to change their party affiliation, and they’re a Republican and wishes to vote as a Democrat, that can be done with about three minutes of time," Talkington said. "If you’re a Democrat wanting to vote as a Republican, you can do the same. If you’re an independent and you want to vote as a Republican, all those options are available to you now and every time I’ve worked I’ve had independents voting.”
In turn, proponents like Tom Dempster with South Dakota Open Primaries say this argument highlights the issue in states with a single dominant party.
“15,300 people cannot vote in the most important election in South Dakota," Dempster said. They helped to pay for that primary election. You are asking them, in order to vote in the Republican primary, to become something that they’re not. 15,000 people cannot vote in the election that elected 21 of the 35 in the Senate, and over half of the House.”
Across the country, this election format is used in California and Washington, while a similar format is used in officially non-partisan Nebraska elections.