'Hijacked' primary process bill for AG, SOS passes Senate, kicks over to House

Update 9 a.m.: A House committee voted Friday to table SB 13 at the request of the prime sponsors. House Majority Leader Will Mortenson in his comments said many South Dakotans wanted to vote in primary elections for attorney general and secretary of state, but he was respecting the will of the sponsors.

PIERRE — Despite being described as a “hijacked” bill in committee and an attempt to table it on the Senate floor, the Senate approved changing the process of how certain candidates can be nominated for statewide office Tuesday.

It’s the third time during the 2024 Legislative session, and fourth time since 2023, that a member of the legislature has attempted to change the process for nominating candidates for attorney general and secretary of state from a convention to a primary election and letting the governor pick their lieutenant governor. One bill and one resolution died in the House. The third bill, SB 13, passed the Senate with a 20-13 vote.

Originally, SB 13, sponsored by Sen. Jim Mehlhaff, R-Pierre, would have had the gubernatorial candidate pick their running mate.

But an amendment introduced by Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, in Senate State Affairs on Feb. 14 turned the bill into the form debated Tuesday: allowing the lieutenant governor nomination process to change, and allowing primary elections for the attorney general and secretary of state of South Dakota.

If a party couldn’t field a candidate for the primary election, then the party could fall back on the convention process. It was a way to get Democrats on board, though none of them spoke on the bill Tuesday.

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Schoenbeck, the Senate Pro Tempore, pointed to the poor vetting during the 2022 GOP convention process, when days before, it had been revealed during the impeachment trial of former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg that the then-head of the Department of Criminal Investigation, David Natvig, had interfered in the investigation.

“Two days later, those delegates at the state convention tried to nominate and throw out Marty Jackley in favor of the person we all heard was engaged in criminal conduct, interfering with a criminal investigation,” Schoenbeck said. “At a minimum, it’s not good vetting.”

Senators in favor of the primary election process said it was a way to return the vote to South Dakotans and trust them, over party insiders, to vet candidates.

“It takes some power away from the political elites and returns it back to the same exact voters that were good enough to select you on a ballot,” Sen. Mike Rohl, R-Aberdeen, said, arguing against an amendment to the bill. “Every single one of us got elected by these exact same voters that right now this amendment is saying are not smart enough to pick their own attorney general and secretary of state.”

Primary turnout among voters remains low, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, with 21.3% of eligible voters in the nation going to the polls.

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But those opposed to the bill, such as Sen. John Wiik, R-Big Stone City, and GOP chairman, continued to sound the drum that the bill wasn’t necessary to solve an internal problem.

“We have a process and it’s being worked through,” he said.

Schoenbeck noted the GOP had a chance to solve the issue over a week ago at a scheduled meeting of the central party committee but were unable to get it done.

“I know for a fact that there are several members of the House that have changed their position since the carnage that happened at the state central committee meeting,” he said, arguing that the House should have another opportunity to vote on the bill that the body had previously killed.

SB 13 now heads to the House and will be heard in the coming days after Crossover Day Wednesday.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SD Senate hears bill on changing party nomination process to primary