A legislative committee has passed a bill allowing the Secretary of State to authenticate a candidate’s nominating petition. Senate Bill 68 authorizes the Secretary to conduct a 5% random sampling to verify petition signatures. Shantel Krebs is South Dakota’s Secretary of State. She says she is bringing this bill on behalf of South Dakota’s Board of Elections.
"This proposal is designed to increase the integrity of the petition process and quell those concerns that are in current law which does not allow the Secretary of State to review the signatures," says Krebs
SB 68 passed with no opposition and now moves to the Senate floor. Krebs says Senate Bill 68 is part of a package of legislative proposals to reform the state’s nominating petition process.