I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The legislative session is about to start up again for the year. Before session gets underway, I wanted to give a real brief update on some things happening in politics nationally, and the potential for them to impact us here locally as well.
With Presidential elections on the horizon, I’m sure many of you have seen the news about Secretaries of State in other states removing Donald Trump from ballots. Setting aside anyone’s preferred candidates and/or personal feelings about the former President, I don’t believe a Secretary of State should have the sole power to remove a candidate or issue from the ballot. That is too much power in the hands of a single individual. Our current Secretary of State specifically stated as much when she was running for office. At the time the discussion was about the recreational marijuana amendment that was on the ballot, she said that even though the process seemed messy and disheveled going through the courts that it was the correct process. That way evidence is presented and heard, there are layers of checks and balances, and there is even an appeals process. She used the analogy equating the Secretary of State’s office to a large filing cabinet. They keep records of things, and any of their decisions are custodial in nature. Even if they find something that appears to be incorrect or worthy of investigation, they refer it to the Attorney General’s office for further review.
Why do I bring this up you might be asking. It reminds me of a bill that came before the legislature last year. HB 1140 was a bill to give the Secretary of State the power to be the sole arbiter of fact in determining whether or not amendments could be placed on the ballot. Once you start down that path it’s not a far reach to expand that to candidates as well. While I don’t foresee our current Secretary of State doing anything of that nature, one thing we need to keep in mind about elected officials, to quote the film The Natural, “They come and they go, Hobbs, they come and they go.” That goes for all elected officials – Secretaries of State, Governors, Mayors, School Board Members, and legislators like myself. So it’s important to be vigilant and remember that we don’t just look at the here and the now, but we have to look towards the future – the next elected official, and the one after that, and even the one after that. That was why when HB 1140 came up for a vote on the House floor I voted against it. In fact, I was the only person in the entire Legislature that voted against it, House or Senate. That is a very lonely feeling when the voting board is displayed and you are the only no vote. At first it makes you feel pretty small and makes you second guess whether or not you made the right decision.
At the time all I had to go off was what we had seen in the past, the opinion of then-candidate Secretary of State, whom I agreed with, a mindset for small and limited government, and a gut instinct. I didn’t have a crystal ball to see into the future that Secretaries of State would be kicking Presidential candidates off ballots, but I knew that government is a system of checks and balances, and its power must be limited. Based off that I casted my vote against HB 1140 last year, and now looking back I’m glad to say I did, even if I was the only one to do so.
The legislative session starts on Tuesday, January 9th and I’m looking forward to the honor and privilege of representing everyone in our district for another year. I’m excited and looking forward to what the upcoming session brings. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns. My email address is Ben.Krohmer@sdlegislature.gov.
Ben Krohmer
State House of Representatives, District 20