Information on local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures may be available here. To see a list of available races, visit the race index.

No drop boxes are available. Voters can return their voted ballot to their county election official.

Early Voting begins 46 days before the election (in-person absentee voting) and ends the day before Election Day.

To be eligible to vote you must be:

• A U.S. citizen
• A resident in South Dakota (To be a resident means the place in which you have a fixed habitation and whenever you are absent intend to return to)
• At least 18 years old on or before the election
• Not currently serving a sentence for a felony conviction which included imprisonment, served or suspended, in an adult penitentiary system
• Not judged mentally incompetent by a court of law

You are required to show your state driver’s license or provide the last 4 digits of your Social Security number when registering to vote.

You must show an ID at the polls when you go to vote. Acceptable forms of ID include:

• A South Dakota driver’s license or non-driver ID card
• A passport or an identification card, including a picture, issued by an agency of the U.S. government
• A tribal identification card, including a picture
• US Government photo ID
• US Armed Forces ID
• Student photo ID from a South Dakota high school
• A current ID that includes a picture, issued by an accredited institution of higher education, including a university, college, or technical school, located within South Dakota

If you do not have a photo ID, you can sign a personal ID affidavit. Voters can call or text 844-338-8743 at any time to reach VoteRiders Voter ID Helpline

You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation. If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.

Polls will be open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

You can find your polling place by utilizing your state resource. If you have further questions on your polling place location, please contact your county clerk.

South Dakota is a “partially closed” primary state. Each party has the ability to choose whether to allow unaffiliated voters or voters not registered with their party to participate in their primary. This decision is made before the election cycle begins. In a primary election if a candidate running for US Senate, US House, or Governor does not with the majority of the votes (50%+1) there will be a primary runoff election scheduled for a few weeks after the primary election date. The runoff election will have the top two candidates with the most votes to ensure that one of them receives the majority of the voters. If you have any questions about your state’s primary election, please contact your local election officials.

If you are not authorized to vote, are successfully challenged, or are otherwise denied the ability to vote and you maintain that you are currently registered to vote in that precinct, you may cast a ballot which shall be called a provisional ballot. You must complete an affirmation for a provisional ballot. Provisional Ballots are counted 7-17 days after the election. You will receive notification of whether your provisional ballot was counted or not and if not, an explanation of why it was not counted. By voting a provisional ballot, your vote may not be secret if you are the only one voting on a provisional ballot in that precinct.

If you cannot mark a ballot because you have a physical disability or cannot read, you may ask any person to help you vote. For more information, you can utilize the American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) resource.

Employees are entitled to paid leave on Election Day between the time the polls open and when they close, unless the person has two consecutive hours during the time the polls are open in which he or she can vote before or after work.

The voting systems used in South Dakota are optical scan and paper ballots. Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes. Paper Ballots: Paper ballots are one of the oldest ways of voting in America. They are still used in a few places on Election Day. When you come to the polling place, you will get a paper ballot from the poll worker. You take it to the voting booth, and use a pen or pencil to mark a box next to your candidate and issue choices. You then drop the marked ballot into a sealed ballot box. You can learn more about voting systems by checking out the Elections Assistance Commission’s (EAC)