Courtesy photo

HURON — Tuesday, millions of Americans will head to the polls to cast their ballot in many elections, from the President to Congressional seats to local legislative positions, not to mention ballot initiatives.

Beadle County has more than 10,000 registered voters who will be eligible to cast ballots that day, but do you know all the information you need to know before you vote?

Before you leave the house
Some long-standing laws have been put into question on social media of late, and it’s best to understand what the law of South Dakota is before you even head to your polling place.

No hats, stickers, jewelry, shirts, shorts, pants, or any other articles of clothing or accessories can be promoting a political party nor a specific candidate, or ballot measure.

To anyone who believes this is a new law or put in place to suppress certain voters, Codified Law 12-18-3 in South Dakota, which establishes that no political paraphernalia is allowed and no campaigning or voter intimidation is allowed within 100 feet of the polling place, was initially established in 1897 in this state.

Wording adjustments have been made over the years, but even the most recent change in South Dakota to this Codified Law was done in 2014, more than a decade ago.

So leave the politically-themed clothes at home, check.

In South Dakota, a state-verified identification is required to cast your ballot. Approved forms of ID include:
• South Dakota driver’s license or nondriver ID card
• U.S. government photo ID (a passport, for example)
• U.S. Armed Forces ID
• Current student photo identification card from a South Dakota high school or South Dakota accredited institution of higher learning

If you don’t possess a photo identification, you can still vote - but you will need to sign a personal identification affidavit. This affidavit holds you to your residence address and that you are officially registered as a voter at that address under penalty of perjury, which holds a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and a $4,000 fine.

If you are not registered, unfortunately, the deadline has passed to register to participate in this election.

You can check your registration and your polling place through the Voter Information Portal on the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website. The portal address is https://vip.sdsos.gov/VIPLogin.aspx.

There you can find out if you are registered for the current election, your voting districts, and also where your polling place is. For most in Beadle County, that will be the Huron Arena.

You’ll also see if you have an absentee ballot cast in your name already. In that case, you will not be allowed to vote at the polling place on election day.

Where will you vote?
Beadle County has four primary polling places — Huron Arena, Wolsey, Lake Byron, and Cavour. When you check your details on the Voter Information Portal, you will find which polling place you should attend to cast your ballot.

For those coming to the Huron Arena, there is construction around the Arena that could be a factor for you. Construction on Dakota Avenue will require you to turn West (left) at 9th St. and then come North (right) on Wisconsin Ave. if you are coming from the South. Those coming from the North will need to turn West (right) onto 3rd St., South (left) on Ohio Ave., and then East (left) on 5th St. From there, the best spot to park around the current construction is on the South side of the Arena, coming in through the doors on that side.

Each voting place is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and any voter in line prior to 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

If you have a physical disability or difficulty reading, you can choose someone to assist you in voting. This should be declared when receiving your ballot to the election worker present.

Finally, if you have been convicted of a felony on or after July 1, 2012, you cannot vote during your sentence. You will need to re-register upon completion of your sentence to be able to vote.

What is on the ballot?

South Dakota’s lone Congressional representative in the U.S. House is up for vote, as is a Public Utilities Commissioner seat, as far as statewide offices are concerned.

On the ballot for District 22 are two seats in the House and one seat in the Senate in Pierre. The Senate race is the only “true” race as the two House seats are being run for by the two Republican primary winners in the district, with no opposition from other party candidates.

Finally, there is a vote to retain Supreme Court Justice Scott P. Myren that is a simple yes or no vote.

Then there are the ballot initiatives. This year’s ballot contains four Constitutional Amendments, two Initiated Measures, and one Referred Law. For more information on each of the measures, a good reference would be the election information section produced by the Plainsman on October 25 or to visit a website like ballotpedia.com.

What is happening after the election?
Election integrity has become a significant question across the country, and South Dakota is no different. A number of election bills were voted on by the legislature the last few years to ensure South Dakotans can be sure the state is running an election with integrity.

Beadle County ballots will be canvassed at the Thursday, Nov. 7, meeting of the Beadle County Commission by commissioners. The goal of the canvass is to verify that total ballot numbers from the books equal the number of ballots that were counted by machine for each precinct.

At the canvass, precinct numbers will be drawn to be part of the county’s post-election audit. One of the pieces of legislation that passed in Pierre initiated a post-election audit of hand-counting ballots that represent five percent of the cast ballots in a county. The first post-election audit after enaction of the new law was held in June after the primary. The date for the post-election audit has not been announced at this time.

To this point, more than 2,000 Beadle County registered voters have cast an early ballot by visiting the Beadle County courthouse and casting a ballot at the Auditor’s office on the second floor. That’s roughly 20% of the county’s eligible voters!

If you would like to cast your ballot early, Monday is your only day, as early voting ends at the end of the business day on Monday and is not available at the office on Tuesday.