South Dakota Ballot Law Heads To Appeals Court Showdown

A dispute over South Dakota’s proposed shortening of the deadline for citizen-initiated ballot petitions has reached Federal Court in Minnesota.

Last week, appeals judges on the Eighth Circuit in St. Paul heard arguments over a South Dakota law enacted in 2025 that moved the petition filing date from the first Tuesday in May to the first Tuesday in February.

Opponents of the change argue that the task of requiring the necessary number of signatures to place an item on the ballot is greatly compromised with three fewer months to work with. Supporters say the change gives officials more time to confirm the signatures and resolve legal disputes before votes are cast.

Currently, an initiated law needs 17,508 valid signatures and a constitutional amendment requires 35,017 in South Dakota.

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The case in question, Dakotans for Health v. Johnson, references South Dakota House Bill 1184, the 2025 law that pulled the filing deadline forward to February and that a federal district judge blocked last year as unconstitutional. The district court’s permanent injunction found that the February filing date was inconsistent with First Amendment protections for petition circulation and held that portion of the law could not be enforced.

It will be a while before the appeals panel makes its final decision on the matter. A ruling isn't expected until at least late summer.

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