Update: With an 8-3 vote, the House State Affairs Committee voted to advance House Bill 1220.
Background: House Bill 1220 amends provisions pertaining to the verification of South Dakota’s registered voters.
Our position: The ACLU of South Dakota opposes House Bill 1220. Cleaning up voter rolls can be a responsible part of election administration because many people move, die, or become ineligible to vote for other reasons. But sometimes, states use this process as a method of mass disenfranchisement, purging eligible voters from rolls for illegitimate reasons or based on inaccurate data
Voting is a fundamental right of our democracy and the decisions made at every level of government affect the lives of all of us.