2-1-17.1. Submission of affidavit challenging petition to secretary of state--Appeal. Not more than thirty days after a statewide petition for an initiated amendment to the Constitution, initiated measure, or referred law has been validated and filed, any interested person who has researched the signatures contained on the petition may submit a sworn affidavit to the Office of Secretary of State to challenge the petition. The sworn affidavit shall include each specific deficiency other than the following:

(1) Signer does not live at address listed on the petition;

(2) Circulator does not live at address listed on the petition;

(3) Circulator listed a residence address in South Dakota but is not a South Dakota resident;

(4) Circulator did not witness the signers;

(5) Signatures not included in the random sample; and

(6) Petition that was originally rejected.

Any challenge by the same person or party in interest shall be included in one sworn affidavit.

The original sworn affidavit shall be received by the Office of Secretary of State by 5:00 p.m. central time on the date. If the sworn affidavit challenges any deficiency prohibited under this section, that deficiency shall be rejected. A challenge to a deficiency is not a challenge to the petition as a whole.

No deficiency may be challenged a second time with the secretary of state. The secretary of state's decision regarding a challenge under this section may be appealed to the circuit court of Hughes County. Any person who does not challenge a petition pursuant to this section, may bring a challenge pursuant to § 2-1-18.

Source: SL 2017, ch 12, § 3; SL 2018, ch 24, § 1.