PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) — The South Dakota House voted 37-31 Wednesday to make voter registration files available free online, following debate over privacy and transparency.
House Bill 1062 requires the Secretary of State to post weekly voter file updates online and maintain a five-year archive of registration records.
“Our state has already spent $4.5 million to upgrade to a modernized system. All it takes is a competent person with five minutes to combine the Excel sheets,” said bill sponsor Rep. Heather Baxter, R-Rapid City.
Currently, voter files cost $2,500, with additional fees for updates and absentee data.
Some legislators raised privacy concerns about making birth years public.
“We’re going to provide free to the public a list of all the 80 and 90-year-old people in South Dakota that are voters… I think that is problematic,” said Rep. Tim Reisch, D-Howard.
Rep. Erin Healy, D-Sioux Falls, warned the bill could endanger abuse survivors who’ve “kept a low profile for safety reasons, and now suddenly their address is accessible.”
But supporters said most information is already available.
“Right now, we have something called the Voter Information Portal, where we can find out any individual person’s party affiliation, and it has their personal information right there for free,” said Rep. Logan Manhart, R-Aberdeen.
The House also passed another voter information bill, HB 1073.
This measure would prevent public access to voters’ phone numbers and email addresses in South Dakota voter registration files. It adds these items to the list of protected information that already includes Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and dates of birth.
The bill lets voters designate their contact information as private when registering. While voter registration files would remain open for public inspection during business hours at county auditors’ offices, contact information would be redacted along with other protected data.
HB 1073 passed 40 to 28. Both bills now move to the Senate for consideration.