Ballot measure · South Dakota · November 3, 2026

Constitutional Amendment J

Title as the state lists it: An Amendment to the South Dakota Constitution Clarifying that an Individual Must Be a Citizen of the United States to be Eligible to Vote.1,2

Research draftReferred by the legislatureConstitutional amendment
How it got there
Referred by the legislature
Kind of measure
Constitutional amendment
To pass
A majority of the votes on it
Researched
October 27, 2026

Research draft. We gathered this from official sources on October 27, 2026: election offices, state laws and court records, each linked to its source. Separate reviewers checked a random sample of 48 facts from the ballot-measure research against the cited sources and found no errors. The rest hasn't been reviewed fact by fact yet, so check the linked source before relying on anything here.

§1What your vote means

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

A yes vote

A yes vote would add people who are not U.S. citizens to the constitution's list of people disqualified from voting, alongside the existing citizenship requirement for voters.2

A no vote

A no vote would leave the voter qualification section as it is, which already requires U.S. citizenship to vote but does not list noncitizens among those disqualified.2

§2How it got on the ballot

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Referred by the legislature. The legislature voted to put it on the ballot.1,2

Constitutional amendment. It would change the state constitution.1,2

The 2025 Legislature proposed this amendment in Senate Joint Resolution 503.1

It is on South Dakota's list of statewide measures for November 3, 2026.1,2 None of the official sources we read calls the list certified or final, so we don’t either. What we couldn't confirm about the list is in the notes on South Dakota's measures.

§3What it needs to pass

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

A majority of the votes on it. Needs more yes votes than no votes.2,3 S.D. Const. art. XXIII, § 3