VIEWPOINT | Amendment H aids democracy, not hurts the Democratic Party

Guest column by Drey Samuelson

The two top members of the South Dakota Democratic Party, Shane Merrill and Dan Ahlers, were recently quoted in an article in The Dakota Scout as saying they believed that the open primary ballot initiative, now known as Amendment H, will – if successful – harm the South Dakota Democratic Party.  

This simply isn’t true, but first let me briefly explain what the initiative does.

Amendment H will eliminate closed partisan primaries, and bring all South Dakota voters together in a single, unified primary that allows ALL voters to vote.  The top two finishers, regardless of political party, will then face off in the general election, with the winner gaining the seat.  One of the most significant benefits is that it will allow 150,000 South Dakota independent voters for the first time to cast a meaningful primary vote, something they cannot do currently. 

South Dakota’s Democratic leaders buck party neutrality on Open Primaries