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Senate rejects changes to absentee voting rules after wide floor debate
Summary
Senate Bill 188, which would have tightened eligibility and procedures for absentee voting, failed 14–21 after debate over access for rural, elderly and transportation-limited voters and concerns raised by county auditors and civil-rights groups.
The South Dakota Senate defeated Senate Bill 188 on final passage, 14 yeas to 21 nays, after an extended floor debate in which sponsors and opponents argued about election integrity, accessibility and administrative burdens.
Senator Blanc, sponsor of SB 188, described the bill as a "common sense" update to absentee voting rules and said amendments had increased an in-person early voting window from 15 to 21 days and added an eligibility reason to permit absentee voting for people incarcerated but not convicted of a felony. "Election integrity is kind of a big deal," Blanc said, urging support for changes including a date-of-birth field on absentee request forms and tightening some application timelines.
Opponents including Senators Hulse, Deibert, Souder and Wheeler warned the bill would disenfranchise elderly and rural voters and reduce options for early in-person voting. Senator Hulse, who works on election operations in her private practice, said turnout is already low in South Dakota and that in-person early voting is equivalent to absentee voting; she urged focusing on mail-ballot safeguards rather than reducing early in-person windows.
Minnehaha County and other large-auditor jurisdictions were referenced in the debate as dealing with heavy in-person and mail absentee loads; Senator Pyszke described detailed processing burdens that large counties face when tens of thousands of absentee ballots are managed and how that affects turnaround and staffing.
An amendment (188B) offered by the sponsor was adopted earlier on the floor; it expanded the in-person early voting window to 21 days and added incarcerated-but-not-convicted persons to the acceptable reasons list. After further debate the roll call showed 14 yeas and 21 nays and the president declared SB 188 lost.
Because the bill failed, current absentee rules remain in force.
