Circulating a Nominating Petition for Conservation District Supervisor - 2012

1.   The declaration of candidacy at the top of the petition form must be completed prior to circulation for signatures (SDCL 12-6-8).  It may not be signed prior to January 1, 2012. The name will appear on the ballot in the exact form indicated in the declaration of candidacy (SDCL 12-16-1).

2.   Petitions may not be circulated before January 1 and may be filed no later than July 1, 2012.  Petitions are filed with the county auditor.  If the conservation district lies in more than one county, the petitions are filed with the Secretary of State. 

3.   Signatures of registered voters must be obtained between the date of the candidate's signed declaration of candidacy and the date of the circulator's verification.

4.  A petition circulator must be a resident of the state of South Dakota who is at least eighteen years of age.

5.   The petition circulator must personally witness each signature on the petition being circulated.  The petition's verification must be completed following circulation and must include the circulator's printed name, address, city, state and be signed under oath before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths.  The candidate may not serve as the notary public.

6.   Each petition signer must be a registered voter in the conservation district for which the petition is circulated.  Twenty-five (25) valid signatures are required to file the petition.

7.   Signers must sign their names as they are registered to vote or as they usually sign their names.

8.   The signer's printed name must also appear.

9.   Each signature line must show a complete residence address.  This can be street and house number or rural route and box number in addition to the city or town.  Zip codes are optional.

If the signer is a resident of a second or third class municipality, a post office box number may be used in lieu of a street address. Second and third class municipalities are those with less than 5000 population.  They would include all municipalities except the following which are first class municipalities:

Aberdeen, Belle Fourche, Box Elder, Brandon, Brookings, Huron, Madison, Mitchell, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, Sturgis, Vermillion, Watertown and Yankton.

10.  Each signature line must show the month and day it was signed.

11.  Numbers to designate the month are permissible.  Abbreviations commonly used are also acceptable.

12.  The county of the signer's voter registration must be included.

13.  The date, address, county of registration, and printed name may be added by the circulator prior to the petition being filed.  Ditto marks may not be used.

14.  A voter may sign one petition for each type of position to be filled (SDCL 12-6-8).

15.  If photocopies are made of the originally signed petition sheet for circulation, the original petition sheet must be submitted with the photocopied sheets.

16.  Each petition sheet must be a self-contained sheet with the heading, declaration of candidacy, instructions to signers, signature lines and circulator's verification on a single sheet.

It is prudent to submit any petition to the filing authority with ample time prior to the deadline to allow you to collect additional signatures if there are not sufficient valid signatures presented on your initial petition.

For additional information or petition forms, contact your local conservation district office or the Secretary of State's Office.