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Municipal and School Information
Election Calendars
2025 Municipal Election Calendar
Election Resources
Absentee Voting Process for Cities and Schools
School Opt Out Election Timeline
Tax Limitation and Opt Out Information for all taxing districts EXCEPT for school districts
Opt Out Information for Schools
City and School Combined Election Information
How to Circulate Municipal and County Initiatives and Referendums
Municipal Recall Election Guideline
Municipal & School Recount Manual
ADA Checklist for Polling Places
Voters in school districts are limited to specific issues they may use the referendum process for. To refer a school board decision to the vote of the people, these are the issues that may be referred:
- School start date (SDCL 13-26-9 through 17)
- School consolidation/reorganization (SDCL 13-6-10)
- Bond - 60% to pass (SDCL 6-8B-2 and 13-19-9)
- Discontinue attendance center (SDCL 13-23-2 and 3)
- Some Capital Outlay Certificates (SDCL 13-16-6.4)
- Implementation of a school sentinel program (SDCL 13-64-7)
Nominating Petitions
WARNING: State law requires that each petition sheet be self-contained. This means that the petition heading, instructions to signers, signature lines and circulator's verification must all be printed on each sheet prior to circulation. The sheet must be printed on front and back. You CANNOT tape, staple or glue the front and back sides together. You CANNOT include sheets with signature lines only. If you have any questions about how to correctly prepare a petition sheet, please call the elections department at 773-3537.
Learn how to circulate a Municipal Nominating Petition
*Signature requirements can be found at SDCL 9-13-9
- First and Second Class cities
- At large candidates need a minimum of 5% of the registered voters of the municipality based upon the number of registered voters recorded by the county auditor on the second Tuesday of January of the year of the election. No more than 50 signatures required.
- Alderman (Wards) candidates need a minimum of 5% of the registered voters of the ward based upon the number of registered voters recorded by the county auditor on the second Tuesday of January of the year of the election. No more than 50 signatures required.
- Voters may sign as many petitions as there are positions.
- Third class cities
- At large candidates need not less than three signatures of registered voters within the municipality.
- Alderman (Wards) candidates need not less than three signatures of registered voters of the ward.
- Voters may sign as many petitions as they choose.
Municipal Nominating petition in Legal Size
Municipal Nominating petition in Letter Size
Learn how to circulate a School Board Nominating Petition
*A minimum of 20 signatures is required (SDCL 13-7-6)
School Board Nominating petition in Legal Size
School Board Nominating petition in Letter Size
Candidate Nominating Petition Validation Checklist
- Cities and Schools - please note that you are required to check voter registration on nominating petitions. ARSD: 05:02:08:00
- Cities ands Schools - please email elections@state.sd.us to gain access to the city and school look-up site. This site is only for school business managers and city finance officers.
2024 - 2025 Municipal / School Election Workshops
Webinar PDFs for 2024-2025 are currently being updated but the PDFs from the previous election cycle are available for reference below. Please note there could be state law changes.
We encourage new Finance Officer’s and Business Manager’s to make sure they attend all the webinars. The information is listed below.
- We will host two webinars on each date. The webinar times are 9:30 am and 2:30 pm (CT).
Webinar 1: Thursday, December 5, 2024
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM CT / 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM CT
- Election Types and Date (don’t forget to set your election date)
- Combining elections vs. holding elections on the same day
- Election Calendar (appoint your election boards sooner rather than later)
- Precinct and Election Boards
- Public Notices
- We will walk through our website and the Legislative Research Council’s site if time allows
Webinar 2: Thursday, December 12, 2024
9:30 AM - 10:40 AM CT / 2:30 PM - 3:40 PM CT
- Candidate Eligibility Requirements
- Petitions - Forms, Deadlines, Signature Requirements (change for cities) and Counting Signatures (walk through the petition checklist). New petition challenge law.
- What if no one files?
- Financial Interest Statements (these must be filed every year for applicable cities and schools)
- Vacancies - What Creates a Vacancy and How to Fill It
- Campaign Finance (for applicable cities and schools) - Who is Required to File, Restrictions, Disclaimers and Forms
Webinar 3: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
9:30 AM - 10:10 AM CT / 2:30 PM - 3:10 PM CT
- Ballot Preparation
- Who Can Vote - Voter Registration and Residency
Webinar 4: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM CT / 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM CT
- Absentee Voting - Application, Voting In-Person or by Mail, UOCAVA Voters (we will walk through our handout)
Webinar 5: Wednesday, March 19, 2025
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM CT / 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM CT
- Election Worker Training - you may use this to train your election workers
- We will walk through the Precinct Manual as a guide on “What to do on Election Day.”
Webinar 6: Wednesday, March 26, 2025
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM CT / 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM CT
- What to ask your county auditor for (Voter registration list, schools make sure to ask for all the counties your district covers etc.)
- What should you, as the person in charge of the election, do on Election Day?
- Counting, Canvassing and Recounting - Provisional Ballots, Duties of Canvassers and Recount Process
Reference Webinars from 2023-2024