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Dakotans for Health
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President of the League of Women Voters of South Dakota announces, “Protect Our Democracy” Coalition, Vows to Fight Voter Intimidation Bill HB 1244
February 26, 2024
Sioux Falls, SD…Amy Scott-Stoltz, President League of Women Voters of South Dakota, announced the formation of a coalition of 18 organizations to combat attempts to weaken South Dakota’s citizen initiative process.
“In 1898, South Dakota was the first in the nation to give its citizens the right to popular initiative and referendum to create and reject laws through the petition process. Again today, that process is under attack,” Scott-Stoltz said. “In recent years the Legislature has fought its own citizens by overturning laws voted in by the people,” she said. “When South Dakotans become frustrated with the action or inaction of the Legislature, we turn to the petition process to get the work done. In our state, the people have the power. The Legislature should respect the people’s wishes, not work against them.”
“At the top of our list will be the defeat of HB 1244 which claims to allow someone to withdraw their signature from a petition. But the way this bill is written, it unnecessarily complicates the initiative process by strengthening the power of the Legislature and weakening the power of the initiative process. It also becomes an open invitation to harassment of petition signers by the petition opponents. A similar law was rejected by courts in Florida for exactly these reasons.”
“This bill would allow a small number of withdrawals to invalidate petitions signed by tens of thousands of voters. It is undemocratic in the extreme and it is the reason HB 1244 must be defeated,” Scott-Stoltz continued. Scott-Stoltz said the coalition serves as a “watchdog”. “We need to protect our constitutional rights from politicians who want to chip away at them,” she said. “We will work with citizens groups, legal scholars, and voters from all sides to defend democracy and empower voters,” she stated. “Defeating HB 1244 is where we will start.”
Coalition members include the League of Women Voters of South Dakota, South Dakota Advocacy Network for Women, South Dakota Farmers Union, Dakotans for Health, TakeItBack.org, South Dakotans for Healthy Families, American Association of University Women - Rapid City, Voter Defense Association, Change Agents South Dakota, Dakota Rural Action, Teamsters Local 120, Open Primaries, Common Grounds Indivisible South Dakota, ACLU South Dakota, Democracy in Action, Zonta Club of the Southern Black Hills, South Dakota Counseling Association, and South Dakota State Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.
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About Dakotans for Health:
Dakotans for Health is an advocacy group committed to promoting public health policies and initiatives that empower South Dakota residents. By championing the Freedom Amendment, Dakotans for Health seeks to ensure that every individual has the right to make personal decisions about their own bodies and futures.
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