2-1-3. Referendum--Laws subject to petition--Form.

Any law which the Legislature may have enacted, except one that may be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, shall, upon the filing of a petition as provided in this chapter, be submitted to a vote of the electors of the state at the next general election. The petition shall be signed by not less than five percent of the qualified electors of the state. The form of the petition, including petition size and petition font size, shall be prescribed by the State Board of Elections.

Source: SDC 1939, § 55.0402; SL 1957, ch 278, § 2; SL 1976, ch 105, § 77; SL 2018, ch 75, § 4.



SDLRC - Codified Law 2-1-3 - Referendum--Laws subject to petition--Form.

2-1-3.1. Referred law--Petition--Filing deadline--Contents--Signatures--Circulator handout.

The petition as it is to be circulated for a referred law must be filed with the secretary of state prior to circulation for signatures and must:

(1)    Contain the title of the referred law;

(2)    Contain the effective date of the referred law;

(3)    Contain the date of the general election at which the referred law is to be submitted;

(4)    Be accompanied by a notarized form signed by each person who is a petition sponsor that includes the names and addresses of each petition sponsor; and

(5)    Be accompanied by a statement of organization as provided in § 12-27-6.

The petition must be filed with the secretary of state within ninety days after the adjournment of the Legislature that passed the referred law. A sworn affidavit, signed by at least two-thirds of the petition sponsors, stating that the documents filed constitute the entire petition and to the best of the knowledge of the sponsors contains a sufficient number of signatures, must also be filed with the secretary of state. The State Board of Elections shall prescribe the form of the petition and affidavit.

The petition circulator shall provide to each person who signs the petition a circulator handout containing the title of the referred law; any fiscal note or summary of a fiscal note obtained pursuant to § 2-9-32; the name, phone number, and email address of each petition sponsor; a statement whether the petition circulator is a volunteer or paid circulator and, if a paid circulator, the amount the circulator is being paid. The secretary of state shall approve the circulator handout for each referred law before the petition is circulated.

Source: SL 2012, ch 18, § 1; SL 2016, ch 23, § 3; SL 2017, ch 16, § 9; SL 2018, ch 21, § 3; SL 2018, ch 22, § 5; SL 2019, ch 14, § 10, eff. July 1, 2020; SL 2020, ch 8, § 13; SL 2024, ch 16, § 4.



SDLRC - Codified Law 2-1-3 - Referendum--Laws subject to petition--Form.

2-1-3.2. Withdrawal of petition for referred law.

A petition of the voters referring a law to the vote of the electors pursuant to § 2-1-3 may be withdrawn no later than one hundred twenty days prior to the next general election, if no less than two-thirds of the petition sponsors file with the secretary of state, in writing, their request for withdrawal of the question from the ballot. The secretary of state shall attach to the petitions on file the request for withdrawal and shall take no other action thereon.

Source: SL 2012, ch 19, § 1.