Secretary of state error costs Vermillion man place on ballot

Judge rules Carson Merkwan didn't have enough signatures

The election prospects for a pair of Republican incumbents in the Legislature improved Friday after a Hughes County judge removed a rival Republican from the ballot.

Carson Merkwan had entered the District 17 race late in a challenge to Reps. Chris Kassin and William Shorma. Both Kassin and Shorma are first-term House members seeking to make the General Election ballot in the June 4 primary election.

Rosebud lawmaker urges South Dakota governor to return tribal flag, defends banishment

Another Republican in the race, Robin Schiro, faces legal troubles and the potential for being placed under a mental health hold, according to documents published by South Dakota War College, a conservative blog.

Merkwan was eliminated from the ballot after a judge ruled that he didn’t submit enough petitions. The Vermillion business development manager thought he needed 39 signatures of registered Republicans because that was what was listed on the secretary of state’s web site. Primary candidates for legislative races are required to get signatures equal to 1 percent of the number of people who voted for their party’s gubernatorial in the last election in that district, or 50, whichever is fewer.

South Dakota lawmakers won't be barred from modifying voter-backed laws