Statement from Dakotans for Health Founder, Rick Weiland
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
We are thankful that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday rejected Governor Noem’s request to stop Judge Lawrence Piersol’s recent ruling that SB 180 is unconstitutional. The law would have required paid petition circulators to make public their personal contact information including home address and personal phone number, and disqualified voters’ signatures for circulators’ meaningless technical mistakes.
The Republican Party has been in overdrive since 2016, when the voters approved IM-22, the “Anticorruption, Campaign Finance and Ethics Reform Act,” enacting numerous laws to deny the will of the voters. We find it ironic that our one-party dominated legislature continues to ignore our state’s motto, “Under God, The People Rule” with continual legislative efforts like SB 180, to harm our constitutional right to collect signatures and advance public policy through the citizen initiative process, which has been part of our state’s constitution since 1898.
Judge Piersol’s ruling in June rejected SB 180’s unconstitutional requirement that personal information of paid circulators be made public, and disqualified voters’ signatures for insignificant technical circulator errors. Governor Noem’s request to stop his ruling was denied and rightfully so.
About Dakotans for Health
Dakotans for Health is a grassroots network in South Dakota. Our mission: is to empower our fellow citizens by organizing them on healthcare and other kitchen table issues that are critical to the future of working class people.
Whether it is promoting open enrollment, organizing to pass ballot measures like Medicaid expansion, or protecting our democracy in court, Dakotans For Health is committed to an inclusive and healthier South Dakota. We envision a state marked by sustainability, justice, quality healthcare, affordable prescription drugs, and science. And we organize together to achieve it.
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Montana Governor Steve Bullock is certainly 'one of us'
You can view our full episode of Healthcare and the Heartland with Governor Bullock HERE
Don't forget to DOWNLOAD and start circulating your petition to expand Medicaid today!
Want to circulate a petition? Click here HERE. Want to make a donation to this effort? Click HERE. Want to volunteer? Contact <a href=mailto:<nowiki> pam.cole@dakotans4health.com.###