BROOKINGS, SD (9-18-26) — Early and absentee voting for the November 3 election starts today.
Bonnie Foster is Brookings City Clerk… “Early/absentee voting starts Friday, September 18, 8 a.m., first floor of the City-County Government Building. Come in the west entrance, and you can’t miss it. It’s going to be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. As long as the building is open and the offices are open, absentee voting will be open — and that’s open through November 2. End of day, 5 p.m. it will close, and then on Tuesday, November 3 you will need to go to the polls to vote.”
Jenna Baker is Brookings County Finance Specialist and says there are some statewide changes impacting voter registration this year… “Senate Bill 175 did pass, which now requires newly-registered voters or voters that have been removed from the state rolls for whatever reason … if you’re in one of those categories, you now have to prove your citizenship. So you either have to provide a photocopy of your birth certificate, U.S. passport or you can present to our office — you’ve got to show it physically — your photo ID, but the issue date has to be July 1, 2025 or after.”
Already-registered voters do not have to re-register; but Baker says the state does periodically remove people from the voter registration lists… “What happens in South Dakota is you’re in ‘active status,’ right? And then after four consecutive general elections, if you do not vote or update your voter registration or do some sort of activity, you then are moved into an inactive status, okay? You can still vote; it’s just that you have to update your voter registration when you do go to vote. If you do eight consecutive years, that’s when you do get removed.”
The voter registration deadline for the November general election is October 19.
Another change in state law this year required cities and school districts to move their elections to either June or November. The City of Brookings choose to move their election to November. Foster said the city has worked out a cost-sharing agreement with the county… “Twenty-five percent of the overall cost will be paid by county and then by city. But then the remaining 75 percent will be divided between the two entities, because there’s certain aspects of an election which occur no matter what — like the workers, the ballots, those sorts of things.”
That 75 percent will be weighted according to ballot composition, with the city and county both contributing proportionately according to how many races or issues of their appear on the ballot.
Locally this year, there are two city council seats, three county commission seats, two District 7 state house seats, and a race for sheriff — in addition to statewide races for governor, senate, congress and more.
Additional information about the November 3 election is available at the City of Brookings website, the Brookings County website and the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website.
— Brookings Radio News
