Amendment H: The Dark Money Keeps Coming

First Colorado. Now Virginia and corporations. Lots of "consulting fees". Back dated checks.

Dark money continues to roll in for Amendment H.

The latest out-of-state group at the table is called Article IV. It is based out of Virginia. Many people are curious why an organization out of Virginia would donate money for deceptive mailers about independents and veterans not being able to vote in primary elections in South Dakota!

A little down the rabbit hole digging gives us some insight. Article IV appears to be donating money to keep ranked choice voting in Alaska, push ranked choice voting in Utah and Oregon, and try to change the election systems in South Dakota, Idaho, and Montana. Based on what they are funding, it appears that they are pushing measures that keep average people from participating in the political process.

It is interesting that Article IV had revenues of almost 11 million in 2022 and fascinating that the Executive Director is a former Goldman Sachs executive who appears to have a history of supporting fringe candidates and causes.

Sadly, information about Article IV is not available on the South Dakota Secretary of State website. This means that average citizens have to spend hours digging around the Internet to learn who is behind this effort.

The Secretary of State filings suggest that almost $1,000,000 of the Amendment H donations are going to consulting fees (2023: $657,467, May 2024: $216,343, Oct 2024: $61,824). Who is getting paid? And what are they getting paid to do? Are any of the people or organizations who are supporting this amendment getting consulting fees?

Also, there are two in-state corporations that have donated as well. That is particularly strange because this is an issue about elections. Why would Premier Bank or Sanford (Denny Sanford, $25,000 through Premier Bank) or Avera Health ($25,000) care about the election structure in South Dakota? Do the leaders of these organizations want California here?

One has to wonder if these companies will be pressuring their employees to vote one way or another like they have done on ballot measures in the past. If so, wouldn’t that be a conflict of interest?

I am feeling deceived. And when I feel deceived, I say NO.