New 'Election Integrity' law in South Dakota makes voter registration rolls free to the public

SD election office publishes voter list labeling thousands as public assistance applicants​

Information is included in newly required free version of statewide registration spreadsheet​

The legislation passed in March. It requires the Secretary of State’s Office — which oversees elections — to make the state’s entire voter registration list freely available online, after the list was previously available only for a $2,500 fee.

Activists who favor the hand-counting of ballots, oppose the use of vote-counting machines and deny the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election were among those who promoted the legislation as an “election integrity” measure.

South Dakota Searchlight downloaded the list and found it included information such as each voter’s name, political party and address. It additionally included phone numbers and email addresses, if voters provided those two pieces of optional information

There was also a column identifying where and how voters registered, such as at a driver’s exam station, a disability services office, a military recruitment center, or while applying for assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or the Women, Infants and Children program. [This has been removed, albeit with some shoddy implementation.]

A spokesperson for the office told South Dakota Searchlight in an emailed statement that the free spreadsheet contains the same information that was “traditionally” available by paying the $2,500 fee. [D and R politicians have stated the where/how data was not available in previous versions of the file.]

When asking public assistance applicants if they’d like to register to vote, the state Department of Social Services economic assistance application says “information regarding the office to which the voter registration form was submitted will remain confidential and be used only for voter registration purposes.”