SIOUX FALLS, S.D.–Low voter turnout predictions for South Dakota were on target. According to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office, the weather could have been a factor in the low turnout in some parts of the state where a number of areas experienced thunderstorms.
South Dakota is split almost in half by the state’s eastern side operating under Central Standard Time and the western side operating under Mountain Time. In the 2020 primary election, there were almost 547,000 voters registered with only 154,000 ballots cast, resulting in a low 28.22 percent voter turnout.
In Sioux Falls, most of the people who came out to vote were Republican, which makes up most of the state’s voting bloc. Of the nearly 583,000 registered voters, there are approximately 286,000 Republicans, 151,000 Democrats, 2,700 Libertarians, and 141,000 with no party affiliation or independent voters.
Sioux Falls resident David Bahr and his wife, JoAnn, came to the Peace Lutheran Church in Minnehaha County on June 7 to cast their ballot under sunny skies. Both are registered Republicans and said they were casting their votes for current Gov. Kristi Noem and U.S. Sen. John Thune. However, in the U.S. Congressional race, they voted for state representative Taffy Howard because they were dissatisfied with the voting record of incumbent Congressman Dusty Johnson.
“I kind of moved away from Dusty Johnson,” Bahr told The Epoch Times. “I don’t think he’s really done as much as he’s claiming—he’s taken some strange votes that I don’t agree with.”
Bahr said the negative campaign ads that have dominated the airwaves hurt the candidates more than it helped them and added that outside influencers have brought money into the state, something with which he disagrees.
“I think it should stay in (the) state to get the word of the people to South Dakota,” he said.
Voter reaction closely mirrors that of a survey conducted in May by South Dakota State University that found, in the U.S. Congressional race, incumbent Johnson led state representative Howard 53 percent to 17 percent among likely GOP primary voters.
However, in Minnehaha County at the Center for Active Generations, where voters were trickling in, Tim Shelburg said he was a registered Democrat but did not want to disclose whom he had voted for.
“The state is heavily conservative,” he told The Epoch Times. “Voter turnout for primaries always have a low turnout—wish more people would exercise that right.”
Another voter, Nancy, who did not want to give her last name told the Epoch Times that, while she identified as a Democrat, she was a registered Republican because she wanted to vote in the Republican primary.
“That’s the only way you can vote in the primaries,” she said.
Nancy admitted that she votes in the Republican primaries so she can vote for candidates who will do the “least collateral damage.” She would not disclose whom she voted for, but said she wanted someone in office that leans more toward pro-choice issues.
“I don’t personally believe that I could have an abortion, but I think it should be between the person, the significant other, and the doctor because they’re the ones that know the individual situation,” she said. “I don’t believe the no-exception-for-rape or any of that.”
Nancy didn’t say whom she voted for but admitted that South Dakota didn’t have “many choices” to her liking because she “leans left” and said [gubernatorial candidate Steven] Haugaard was too far right of Noem.
In the 2020 primary election, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office, 112,211 absentee ballots were requested, with 88,949 received; 1,220 ballots were rejected.
Noem, who has the endorsement of former President Trump has been rumored to be a 2024 contender for the White House. She has been speaking at events such as CPAC in Florida in February and most recently the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention in Texas at the end of May. She is a staunch defender of the Second Amendment.
She answered her critics at the convention, “If they’re attacking you, it is because you’re doing something effective that scares them. So, keep it up.”
Vying for his turn in the governor’s office, Sioux Falls attorney and former state Speaker of the House Steve Haugaard has been critical of Noem, saying she is “more focused on “building a national profile” than tending to her duties as governor of South Dakota.
In the Senate race, three-term incumbent John Thune is being challenged by GOP hopefuls Bruce Whalen and Mark Mowry, both running to the right of Thune. Mowry was critical of Thune because he did not challenge the 2020 presidential election results and traveled to Washington DC on Jan. 6 but said he did not participate in the demonstrations at the Capitol. Whalen identifies as a “true Trumper” and believes the former president was “robbed” of the election.
