CV NEWS FEED // South Dakotans could be allowed to withdraw their signatures from ballot-question petitions, thanks to a new bill that recently advanced in the state House after several people mistakenly signed a pro-abortion petition, thinking it was pro-life.
The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Jon Hansen, passed in the state House on Tuesday 59-9, with the House’s seven Democrats and two of its Republicans voting no.
According to South Dakota Searchlight, the bill will now head to a Senate committee, and could be made effective immediately.
The bill was proposed after several South Dakotans approached Hansen, who serves on the board of directors of South Dakota Right to Life, and said that they mistakenly signed a petition to put abortion on the ballot because they thought it was pro-life.
The petition declares that the government may not ban abortion within the first trimester, but that the government may regulate or prohibit abortions in the second and third trimesters with exceptions for life or health of the mother.
According to South Dakota Searchlight, Hansen also “alleged [that] petition circulators are fooling South Dakotans who think they are signing a measure to repeal the sales tax on groceries but are being given the abortion petition.” Both petitions are being circulated by the same ballot question committee.
“For those people who have been misled, or frankly, fraudulently induced, into signing one of these ballot measure petitions, this simply gives them the choice,” Hansen said. “It gives that individual the choice to say, ‘You know what, I’m sorry, I was misled into signing that. I want to take my name off the thing.’”
The petition needed 35,017 signatures to be put on the ballot. Currently, the abortion petition has more than 50,000 signatures.
If Hansen’s bill passes, South Dakota would become the fifth state to allow withdrawal of signatures from petitions. California, Idaho, Utah, and Washington all have similar provisions.
Democratic Rep. Linda Duba told South Dakota Searchlight that “we have a personal responsibility to understand what we are signing.”
“And if we disagree with that signature at a later time, we also have the opportunity to vote no,” she continued.
Republican Rep. Will Mortenson said that the bill “adds rights to the voter.”
It adds voter discretion to come back and say, ‘I want my name withdrawn from that,’” he said. “And if there’s a challenge, that can be duly considered at that point.”
