South Dakota Republicans attempt to change candidate nomination process again
PIERRE — Voters will not get the chance to weigh in on how South Dakota's political parties nominate candidates for certain statewide offices.
That's after the House State Affairs committee voted down Wednesday a resolution introduced by Sioux Falls Republican Rep. Tyler Tordsen to create a ballot question for the 2024 election that would propose using a primary election rather than a convention nominating process for candidates running for Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer and Commissioner of Public Lands.
The resolution comes after failed attempts during the 2023 Legislative Session to change the nomination process to a primary election. The issue stemmed from the 2022 Republican nominating convention where internal party fractures led to Monae Johnson being the party nominee for Secretary of State over incumbent Steve Barnett. Johnson went on to win her election.
Tordsen explained Wednesday morning the resolution would move the state forward from a dated process. Only three states, including South Dakota, still use the convention nominating process.
"Nearly 300,000 Republican voters, 146,000 Democrats and others are completely shut out of that process today. Instead, these important decisions are made by a few party bosses," he said. "...Change could be a good thing, especially when done with sincerity and when done correctly."
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Opposition came swiftly with people arguing dark money influences would find a way to weave itself into primary elections, and more importantly, by having the resolution come in the form as a change to the Constitution, it would only make it more difficult to make changes if there was an issue in the future.
"This is a very bold move by placing it in the Constitution," Auditor Richard Sattgast said, adding the nomination process allows for additional vetting of the candidate and he faced a tough nomination process ,too.
GOP chairman and Sen. John Wiik said that the party was already working internally to solve its own problems as it related to the 2022 convention.
House Minority Leader Oren Lesmeister during discussion on the bill echoed a similar sentiment to Wiik, asking Republicans to solve their own problems and leave Democrats out of it.
"I find it kind of humorous that we're sitting here again, trying to solve a Republican problem," the Parade Democrat said. "When you sit here and say, 'We're going to help the Democrats,' we're not asking for help. We don't need it."
House Majority Leader Will Mortenson argued state politics and the political parties belong to the people, and that they should be involved in the process of selecting a candidate.
"We're not going to heal this thing until we turn it over to these voters, and so that's what my heart tells me," the Fort Pierre Republican said. "I know this is probably not something that's got consensus, but I do think it's a conversation worth happening − letting the voters into these process and tearing down these walls."
Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, brought the motion to kill the bill despite another motion from Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt to pass it onto the House floor.
Hansen argued "a sloppy convention" shouldn't upend an entire political process.
"We sit down at a table, we work together as a party and we nominate like we have really good candidates to these offices," he said.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Nomination process for state officials fails in South Dakota committee
