SD-GOV: Surge in advance voting for Republican runoff driven by party switchers, county auditors say
Advance voting in the runoff for the South Dakota Republican nomination for governor is ahead of the pace it was on for the primary election, and some county election officials are attributing it to people switching parties.
“I’ve got an election coordinator and that’s basically all she’s been doing since the primary: processing those party changes as they come in,” said Brown County Auditor Lynn Heupel.
Through Monday, 12,617 Republican voters statewide had cast ballots for either Gov. Larry Rhoden or businessman Toby Doeden. The runoff election is July 28.
That’s about 3,300 more than a comparable timeframe ahead of the June 2 primary — a 35% increase. Early voting for the primary, however, started about a week late due to delayed ballot printing.
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2026/07/15/surge-in-advance-voting-for-republican-runoff-driven-by-party-switchers-county-auditors-say/