Voting Rights and Voter Access in South Dakota - Panel I

The South Dakota Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is hosting a series of online public panel briefings to hear testimony regarding the potential civil rights concerns related to voting rights and voter access in South Dakota. The Committee intends to provide the Commission with their findings and recommendations on these topics. The first panel in this series will take place:

Panel I: Wednesday, July 27, 2022, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm CT
Online Registration Zoom Audio/Video: https://tinyurl.com/37tp8zhw
Audio Only: (English) 1-551-285-1373; Access Code: 160 809 5244#

Members of the public will be invited to speak during an open comment period towards the last 20 minutes of each panel. Members of the public are encouraged to share their experiences and perspectives of voting in the state.

Closed captions will be provided. Individuals requiring additional accommodations should contact ebohor@usccr.gov at least 7 business days prior to the meeting to make the request. The Committee will also accept written comments related to this study. Please send written statements on this topic to Evelyn Bohor, at ebohor@usccr.gov by August 30, 2022.

Committee Chair Travis L. Letellier said, “Our Committee is very interested in listening to the experiences of people across South Dakota who may have faced barriers when participating in the voting process. One of the primary purposes of the State Advisory Committee is to ensure that people have access to voting and that barriers to voting are identified and mitigated. We will hold a series of public hearings during the summer and fall of 2022, and we will hopefully hear from our Tribal communities, New Americans, and people with a variety of physical abilities and disabilities who are willing to share their stories with us. Ultimately, the State Advisory Committee hopes to offer a series of practical recommendations to Tribal, Federal, and State authorities detailing where barriers to voting are occurring in South Dakota and how, possibly, to eliminate them."