SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — It can be both difficult and confusing to keep up with all the candidates running for the South Dakota legislature this year. 

Ahead of the June 7 primary election, KELOLAND Media Group will help voters get to know the candidates. Absentee voting is already underway, but your ballot will look a lot different depending on your voter registration. 

Registered Republican voters will vote for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor and local races.

All 105 South Dakota Legislature seats, 35 in the Senate and 70 in the House, will be voted on in 2022. The June 7 primaries will decide each party’s nomination for the lone Senate seat per district and each party’s nominations for the two House seats, with those nominees advancing to the November general election ballots.

South Dakota has 35 legislative districts; the current Legislature drew new boundaries last fall that will be used in the 2022 through 2030 legislative elections. Each party can have one candidate for the Senate seat and two House candidates for the House seats in a district (with the exceptions of House Districts 26 and 28; each of those is broken roughly in half and each of the four halves elects one representative).

You can find the candidates in your district and see responses to questions from KELOLAND Media Group in the links listed below. Not sure what district you live in? Find your voter registration information on the Secretary of State’s Voter Information Portal.

Northern, central and eastern S.D. districts

Southeastern South Dakota Districts

Western South Dakota Districts

Districts that won’t have any primaries are: District 6 (Harrisburg and Tea), District 10 (central and eastern Sioux Falls), District 15 (central and northern Sioux Falls), District 17 (Vermillion and North Sioux City), District 18 (Yankton), District 21 (Wagner, Platte, Plankinton, White River and Gregory), District 22 (Huron and Redfield) and District 27 (Wall and Pine Ridge Reservation). 

For registered Democratic and independent voters, there will only be local primaries for a state House races in Sioux Falls-based District 11 and District 26A located in Mellette and Todd Counties. 

All voters, regardless of party registration, will vote on Constitutional Amendment C, which would require 60 percent of voters to approve a ballot measure that involves changing taxes or spending more than $10 million. 

How to register to vote

The voter registration deadline is Monday, May 23, 2022.

If you have not registered to vote in the past, you will need to print and fill out this form, sign it and then submit it to your County Auditor. Voter registration can not be done electronically in South Dakota.

Not sure if you’ve already registered? You can check that online at the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website. Fill out your info, and if you are registered to vote, it will show you your polling locations for the next election.