SEARCHLIGHT NEWS
State Sen. Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, left, supports an amendment to the state constitution to clarify the citizenship requirement for voting in South Dakota. Rep. Erik Muckey, D-Sioux Falls, opposes the change. (Photos by South Dakota Searchlight)
By Meghan O’Brien
A question on the Nov. 3 general election ballot asks South Dakotans to add language in the state constitution specifying that people who are not U.S. citizens are disqualified from voting. The state constitution already includes citizenship as a voting eligibility requirement.
State Sen. Taffy Howard, R-Rapid City, supports Amendment J. She said it would close a loophole in the constitution. Rep. Erik Muckey, D-Sioux Falls, opposes Amendment J. He said the state already has laws in place that criminalize noncitizens voting.
Check out Searchlight’s Voter Guide to learn more about:
Candidates for governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Legislature and other statewide offices.
Four ballot questions.
Campaign news.
Information on early and absentee voting.
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COMMENTARY
South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson speaks during a press conference about election security and integrity on Oct. 9, 2024, at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
By Dana Hess
Recent events have some South Dakota Republicans questioning the integrity of “election integrity” enthusiast Monae Johnson. This happened after the secretary of state endorsed a Democrat who’s running for election to her office.
Johnson’s election as secretary of state and her tenure there has been a long, strange trip.
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
Kristi Noem, at the time secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, receives a tour of the CECOT prison with Minister of Justice and Public Security Gustavo Villatoro in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Tia Dufour/Department of Homeland Security)
By Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — An appeals panel Friday seemed inclined to agree that more than 100 Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to a brutal prison in El Salvador are entitled to due process hearings to challenge their removal, which was made under an archaic 18th-century wartime law.
NATIONAL NEWS
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