We Launched Our Signature Drive Today!
Earlier today, we held a press conference to announce the launch of our signature drive – we're off to the races!
And at the end of the press conference, I was honored to become the first signer of our petition.
Here I am with De Knudson, our campaign treasurer, who served as the first circulator.
I would like to give a special thank you to the four campaign leaders who spoke alongside me at today’s press conference: De Knudson (SDOP treasurer), Tom Dempster (SDOP board member), Tom Heinz (SDOP advisory committee member), and Jason Pieper (SDOP advisory committee member).
Here are some highlights from their remarks:
“Our partisan primary system, all too often, focuses candidates to a very small and ideological eye of the needle. Over time, we, the people, become more and more extreme.” – Tom Dempster
“Last year, 95 percent of primary elections for our state legislature were closed to independent voters. That means that nearly all of South Dakota’s 142,000 independent voters were excluded from these state legislative primaries despite the fact that their tax dollars paid for those elections.” – Tom Heinz
“Our open primaries initiative will benefit South Dakota in many ways, including increased voter turnout. The South Dakota Legislative Research Council’s fiscal note for our initiative predicts that over 50,000 more South Dakotans will vote in our primaries after this constitutional amendment is passed.” – De Knudson
“I believe that many potential candidates decline to run because they know that in a partisan primary, they will face overwhelming pressure to shift towards the extreme ends of the political spectrum in order to survive the primary.” – Jason Pieper
Finally – we are looking for volunteer circulators and notaries! If you are interested in getting involved with the campaign, please contact us.
Best,
Joe Kirby
Chairman
South Dakota Open Primaries
