South Dakota Congressional Districts Creation (1910)

Laws • History
List of measures

Voting on; Redistricting Measures
Ballot Measures
	By state
	By year
	Not on ballot
Local
	School redistricting
	Annexation and merging

The South Dakota Congressional Districts Creation Referendum was on the November 8, 1910 ballot in South Dakota as a veto referendum, where it was defeated. The measure would have divided the state into congressional districts.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Aftermath[edit]

A candidate for one of the new congressional districts created by the overturned act challenged the referendum in court. The candidate claimed that Section 4 of Article I of the United States Constitution gave the power to prescribe the manner of holding elections for representatives to the state legislatures. The South Dakota Supreme Court, however, ruled that "legislature" meant the lawmaking power, including the people. This upheld the results of the referendum vote.^[2]^[4]

Election results[edit]

South Dakota Congressional Districts Creation Referendum (1910)
Result	Votes	Percentage
d No	48,883	64.49%
Yes	26,918	35.51%

Election results via: South Dakota Political Almanac, Table 7. Results of Elections Concerning State Constitutional Amendments and Initiated and Referred Laws, 1889-1968

Text of measure[edit]

The 1910 statewide ballots for referendas were over six feet long in fine print because the laws at the time required the printing of the full text of each measure, as opposed to a ballot title or summary of the measures.^[5]

This historical ballot measure article requires that the text of the measure be added to the page.

Path to the ballot[edit]

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in South Dakota

This measure was placed on the ballot by a referendum petition.

External links[edit]

South Dakota Political Almanac, Table 7. Results of Elections Concerning State Constitutional Amendments and Initiated and Referred Laws, 1889-1968

Footnotes[edit]

[1] Oberholtzer, E. P. (1911). The Referendum in America. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons

[Loeb-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Loeb, I. (1932). "Recent Controversies Regarding Congressional Districts." Washington University Law Review. 17(3). 211-220.

[3] South Dakota Political Almanac, "Table 7. Results of Elections Concerning State Constitutional Amendments and Initiated and Referred Laws, 1889-1968," accessed May 22, 2014

[4] Horner, H. R. (1912). Reports of Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of the State of South Dakota from the Decisions of June 18, 1910, to and Including Decisions of December 28, 1910. Pierre: State Publishing Co.

[5] Lowell, A. L. (1921). Public Opinion and Popular Government. New York: Longmans, Green and Co.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

	v • e State of South Dakota Pierre (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? \| Elections in 2024 \| How to vote \| How to run for office \| Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? \| U.S. President \| U.S. Congress \| Federal courts \| State executives \| State legislature \| State and local courts \| Counties \| Cities \| School districts \| Public policy