Can Recall Improve Government Amidst South Dakota's One-Party Regime?

[TexasTowelie]

Longtime marijuana advocate and petitioner Emmett Reistroffer is trail-ballooning an initiative to give South Dakotans the ability to recall more elected officials. The only officials we can boot from office early are municipal officials (SDCL 9-13-29). If your mayor or city councillor gets out of line, you can circulate a recall petition, collect signatures from 15% of your local electorate (SDCL 9-13-30), and put that municipal officer to a trial by public vote… assuming, of course, you can put up a candidate to replace the malefactor (SDCL 9-13-32).

No other title of South Dakota law includes recall provisions; thus, county commissioners, legislators, governors, and attorneys general can kill people with their cars, lie about it, refuse to resign, and face no consequences until the next election.

Only nineteen states allow recall elections of state officials; Virginia has a curious recall process, untested on state officials, in which the circuit court, not the voters, decides whether to remove an elected official.

Reistroffer has signaled his intention to put South Dakota officials on the recall hotseat by filing a statement of organization for a ballot question committee called South Dakota Voters for the Right to Recall Elected Officials. Resitroffer’s is the only name on the filing, so we don’t know who else might constitute the plural indicated by the name. He hasn’t filed a petition yet for public review on the Secretary of State’s ballot question website, so we don’t know the parameters Reistroffer has in mind for a broader South Dakota recall. Reistroffer tells the press he’s still thinking about what form the proposal should take:

While Reistroffer, a registered Republican, is best known for his pro-marijuana advocacy at the Capitol, he says his effort to get the question of recalls on the ballot isn’t about a single-issue. Rather, it’s about adding another layer of accountability to the South Dakota government.

…Reistroffer’s committee hasn’t determined yet if the proposed ballot question will be a constitutional amendment or an initiated measure [Joe Sneve, “Group Aims to Give South Dakotans the Right to Recall State Officials {paywall},” Aberdeen American News, 2021.03.05].

Read more: http://dakotafreepress.com/2021/03/06/can-recall-improve-government-amidst-south-dakotas-one-party-regime/