SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — With the November general elections just under three months away, two candidates have made the ballot for the presidential race in South Dakota. These are Republican former President Donald Trump with running mate JD Vance and Libertarian Chase Oliver with running mate Mike ter Maat.
The campaign for Independent candidate Robert Kennedy, Jr. announced Tuesday that they had submitted signatures to appear on the ballot in South Dakota; also announcing it had submitted signatures in Wisconsin, filed paperwork in Nevada and been certified in Vermont.
“I’m proud to say Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on the ballot in South Dakota,” wrote a volunteer for the campaign.
Kennedy has yet to be certified in South Dakota. A representative of the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) told KELOLAND that their office received the petitions for Kennedy yesterday, but has not completed the validation process.
“Our office has only received national party convention certificates from the Republican and Libertarian parties. The Democrat party will not have their convention and send their certificate until later this month,” said the SOS representative.
The State of South Dakota only recognizes four political parties as of 2024; the Democratic Party, Libertarian Party, No Labels Party and the Republican Party, all of which have procedures for selecting their presidential nominees.
Any candidate wishing to be on the ballot who is not the designated candidate of one of those parties must do so as an Independent, which requires them to gather the signatures of 3,502 registered South Dakota voters (the required number is 1% of the total vote cast for the Office of Governor in the last gubernatorial election).
South Dakota law does not allow write-in votes.
