PIERRE, S.D. – A circuit court judge has agreed to fast-track a trial on whether the Secretary of State’s Office should have disqualified a ballot measure legalizing abortion in South Dakota, but the measure will be on the ballot regardless of the trial’s outcome.
Judge John Pekas set a trial date of Sept. 23 in Life Defense Fund’s lawsuit against Dakotans for Health. That group sponsored a petition drive to bring a constitutional amendment that would overturn South Dakota’s ban on abortion. The ban went into effect on June 24, 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the country.
Pekas also agreed to add the Secretary of State’s Office as a defendant in the case at the request of Life Defense Fund. Dakotans for Health did not object.
The Sept. 23 trial date could go through Sept. 27. Life Defense Fund has until Aug. 30 to submit expert witnesses and Dakotans for Health has a Sept. 6 deadline. Pekas said a decision following the trial will come at “the appropriate time.”
Absentee voting in South Dakota starts Sept. 20. And the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office is legally required to certify copies of all ballot measures to county auditors by Tuesday, Aug. 13.
Caroline Woods, a spokeswoman for Life Defense Fund, said an outcome in the trial could mean that newspapers are not legally obligated to print the ballot measures. Under state law, county designated legal newspapers are required to print ballot measures at least once between Oct. 8 and Oct. 22.
“South Dakotans will have it on the ballot, regardless, even if it’s null and void,” Woods said.
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The latest court action comes after the South Dakota Supreme Court reversed Pekas’ July decision to dismiss Life Defense Fund’s lawsuit. Pekas had argued that Life Defense Fund should have challenged the secretary of state for abusing its authority to certify the ballot measure.
Dakotans for Health submitted more than 54,000 signatures of South Dakota voters to place the measure on the ballot as a constitutional amendment. During its random sampling of signatures, the Secretary of State’s Office found that 109 of 723 signatures were rejected – a rejection rate more than enough to meet the legal threshold to qualify.
But Life Defense Fund argued in its lawsuit that the Secretary of State’s Office should have disqualified more because some of the signatures were collected by out-of-state residents. Some petitions did not include appropriate disclosure information by circulators or were not properly certified.
The group also contended that Dakotans for Health pulled a bait-and-switch with some circulators asking people if they wanted to sign a petition to repeal the tax on groceries but instead were given the petition for the abortion measure. Dakotans for Health sponsored both the abortion ballot measure and an initiated measure to repeal the sales tax on consumable products.
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Woods welcomed the expedited hearing schedule.
“These decisions from the court will finally give Life Defense Fund the opportunity to present our mounds of video evidence, showing Dakotans for Health clearly breaking election law and engaging in fraudulent activity,” she said in a statement.
Dakotans for Health has maintained that its petition effort complied with state law. Group co-founder Rick Weiland said he welcomed the decision to expedite the trial.
“The sooner the trial gets underway, the better,” he said.
