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CITY CLERK
Initiatives & Referendums
Shari Thornes, City Clerk
311 Third Avenue/PO Box 270
Brookings, SD 57006
605-692-6281 Phone
605-692-6907 Fax
sthornes@cityofbrookings.org
History
South Dakota has the distinction of being the first state in the
Union to provide for popular initiative and referendum for enacting
and rejecting statewide legislation. This was accomplished by constitutional
amendment approved in 1898. This same amendment provided for initiative
and referendum at the municipal level.
Initiative and referendum for county ordinances and resolutions
was provided by statute in 1975. Municipal Initiated Measure:
Municipal Initiative and Referendum (SDCL 9-20)
This is a petition to propose an ordinance or resolution. Petitions
are filed with the City Clerk. The petition must have signatures
of registered voters equal to five percent of the registered voters
in the municipality. Any signature signed more than six months before
the petition is filed is not valid. A petition form has been prescribed
by the State Board of Elections for this purpose. The initiative
may not be used to nullify the purpose for which bonds have been
sold. An initiated ordinance or resolution may not be amended or
repealed by the governing body for one year following its effective
date.
Municipal Referendum
This is a petition requiring the submission of an ordinance or resolution
which has passed the governing body to a vote of the people before
the measure may become effective. Petitions are filed with the City
Clerk. The petition must have signatures of registered voters equal
to five percent of the registered voters in the municipality. A
petition form has been prescribed by the State Board of Elections
for this purpose. The petition must be filed within 20 days after
the publication of the passage of the ordinance or resolution.
The Election
The election will be held at the next annual municipal election
or county general election unless the governing body chooses to
conduct a special election. If a special election is opted for,
the election date must be set within ten days of the filing of the
petition and the election must be on a Tuesday not less than 30
days from the day it was set.
Circulating an Initiative or Referendum Petition
- The heading on the petition must be completed prior to circulation.
- The petition circulator must personally witness each signature
on the petition being circulated. The petition's verification must
be completed following circulation and must include the circulator's
county of voter registration, printed name, address, city, state
and be signed under oath before a notary public or other officer
authorized to administer oaths.
- Each petition signer must be
a registered voter in the state of South Dakota in the jurisdiction
for which the petition is circulated.
- Signers must sign their
names as they are registered to vote or as they usually sign their
names.
- The signer's printed name must appear below the signature.
- Each signature line must show a complete residence address. This
can be street and house number or rural route and box number in
addition to the city or town. Zip codes are optional. If the signer
is a resident of a second or third class municipality, a post office
box number may be used in lieu of a street address. Second and third
class municipalities are those with less than 5000 population. They
would include all municipalities except the following which are
first class municipalities: Aberdeen, Brookings, Huron, Madison,
Mitchell, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, Sturgis, Vermillion,
Watertown and Yankton.
- Each signature line must show the month,
day and year it was signed.
- Numbers to designate the month are
permissible. Abbreviations commonly used are also acceptable.
-
The county of the signer's voter registration must be included.
- The date, address, county of registration, and printed name
may be added by the circulator prior to the petition being filed.
Ditto marks may not be used.
It is prudent to submit any petition to the filing authority with ample
time prior to the deadline to allow you to collect additional signatures
if there are not sufficient valid signatures presented on your initial
petition.
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