Who legally makes up the County Central Committee in South Dakota, who else may participate in the county party organization, and who fills nomination vacancies for county and joint legislative offices?
Plain-English summary
In the 1968 political campaign season, party officials around South Dakota were apparently flooding the AG with questions about who held what authority within local party organizations. The AG bundled the most common questions and answered them in one opinion, organized around SDC 16.0241 (party organization) and SDC 16.0243 (vacancy filling).
The structural framework was this. The "County Central Committee" was a narrow body: just the precinct committeemen and precinct committeewomen elected at the primary election. The "county political organization" was a broader meeting: the Committee plus that year's nominated candidates of the party. The two were not the same, and the statute granted different authorities to each.
On the Committee's membership, the answer was strict. Only the elected precinct committeemen and committeewomen were on it. Delegates to the state convention, even though elected at the primary, were not Committee members. Sitting County Commissioners whose terms did not expire that year were not "nominated candidates" of that year and were not authorized to participate in the county party organization meeting. The AG cited prior opinions from 1929-30 and 1947-48 for the proposition that delegates were "elected" at the primary, not "nominated" candidates. The party-organization meeting was confined to the Committee plus the year's nominees.
On the formation of the party organization (electing chair, vice-chair, secretary, treasurer, state committeeman, state committeewoman), the meeting body was the Committee plus the year's nominated candidates, voting together. Notably, the AG cited a 1941-42 opinion holding that a candidate could be elected to be an officer of the party organization, so nominee status did not disqualify someone from a leadership role.
On filling vacancies in Committee or party-office positions (as opposed to nomination vacancies), only the Committee itself could act. Nominees did not participate in that vote.
On filling vacancies in nominations, the rules were tighter. For a county-office nomination, the affected county's Central Committee filled it. For a joint legislative district nomination, the Committees of all counties making up the district acted together. Each committeeman present cast one vote; majority of those present prevailed. There was no statutory authority for proxy voting; absent committeemen could not cast votes by proxy or have their votes cast by agent. The State Committee played no role in county or joint-district vacancies; those were strictly local matters under SDC 16.0243.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1968. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here. South Dakota's election code has been substantially restructured since 1968, including renumbering from SDC to SDCL Title 12. The modern party-organization and vacancy-filling rules are found in current SDCL chapter 12-5 (political parties); a 1968 opinion on SDC 16.0241 and 16.0243 is informative on legislative intent but not a substitute for reading the current statutes.
What the opinion meant at the time
For precinct committeemen and committeewomen, the opinion confirmed that they held real institutional power. They alone made up the Committee, and they were the gatekeepers for filling Committee vacancies and most party-office vacancies. The vacancy-filling vote was also theirs alone; an absent committeeman could not be voted for by proxy.
For state convention delegates, the opinion was disappointing. Election as a delegate did not buy a seat at the county party organization table. The role was state-level only.
For sitting County Commissioners, the message was: your authority to participate in this year's county party meeting depended on whether you were on the ballot this year. A commissioner mid-term was not a "nominated candidate" of that year and could not participate. The same logic applied to other elected officials whose terms ran across primary cycles.
For party officers and political strategists, the opinion confirmed that the chair, the vice-chair, secretary, treasurer, and state committee members were elected by the Committee-plus-nominees body, and that candidates could be elected to those officer roles. The statute also reportedly placed six limitations on who could be a party officer (the opinion did not enumerate them but referenced them in passing).
For nomination-vacancy decisions (the most consequential in a campaign year), the opinion locked the rules down: only the affected County Central Committee (or Committees) could act, only members present could vote, each member one vote, majority wins. No proxies, no agents, no state-level overrides.
Common questions
Q: Who is a "nominated candidate" for purposes of joining the county party organization meeting?
A: The candidates nominated by the party at the primary election that year for offices on the ballot in the upcoming general election. A commissioner whose term continues past the election year was elected previously; he or she is not a "nominated candidate" of the current year.
Q: What if a delegate to the state convention is also a precinct committeeman?
A: He or she participates in the county party meeting by virtue of being a committeeman, not by virtue of being a delegate. The delegate role added nothing to county-level voting rights.
Q: Could a member of the Committee delegate his or her vote to someone else?
A: No. The opinion was emphatic: no statute authorized proxy voting in vacancy-filling meetings, so an absent committeeman's vote could not be cast by anyone else.
Q: Could the State Committee intervene if a county was deadlocked on a vacancy?
A: Not under SDC 16.0243 as the AG read it. Vacancy filling for county and joint legislative district offices was exclusively a local function. The State Committee's role was confined to vacancies under its own jurisdiction (which the opinion did not detail).
Q: How were officers of the party organization (chair, etc.) elected?
A: The Committee plus the year's nominated candidates met together (8 p.m. on the last Tuesday in June following the primary, per SDC 16.0241), and that combined body elected the officers.
Q: Were additional meetings allowed beyond the statutorily set date?
A: Yes. The AG read 16.0241's specific meeting date as a minimum, not a maximum. The county chair could call additional meetings of the Committee-plus-nominees body to address strategy and other party matters.
Background and statutory framework
South Dakota's primary-election system, restructured in 1929, treated political parties as quasi-public organizations. The state set the rules for who served on party committees, when they met, and how they made decisions. SDC 16.0241 was the core party-organization statute. SDC 16.0243 was the vacancy-filling statute. Both had been adjusted by 1963 Session Laws amendments.
The structural logic of the AG's reading was that the Committee was a permanent, voter-elected body; the party organization (Committee plus nominees) was a temporary, election-cycle body. The permanent body had ongoing authority over its own composition and over vacancies in its own ranks; the temporary body acted in concert with the Committee on broader strategic and organizational questions for the duration of the campaign.
The strict no-proxy rule reflected the general principle in South Dakota that proxy voting was not allowed unless a statute specifically permitted it. Bodies like school boards, city councils, and other governmental and quasi-governmental boards had similar limits. The political party committee, although technically a private body, was treated by SDC 16.0243 as having statutory voting procedures that displaced any private organizational rules.
The opinion deliberately did not get into the policy merits of the various rules; the AG's job was statutory interpretation. The questions about state-level meetings, conventions, and other matters not raised by the questioner were left untouched.
Citations and references
Statutes:
- SDC 16.0241, as amended by Section 6 of Chapter 107 of the 1963 Session Laws
- SDC 16.0243 (filling nomination vacancies)
Prior AG opinions:
- 1963-64 AGR 379 (composition of Central Committee)
- 1930-32 AGR 190 (same conclusion)
- 1929-30 AGR 169 (delegates are "elected" not "nominated")
- 1947-48 AGR 293 (same)
- 1941-42 AGR 398 (candidate may be officer of party organization)
- 1933-34 AGR 309 (Central Committee fills vacancies)
Source
Original opinion text
Political Parties. Who makes up the County Central Committee? Who participates in County Party Organization and other political meetings? Who fills vacancies in political nominations for county and joint legislative districts?
You have advised that because of the interest in the 1968 political campaign that your office has received many requests for information on the subject of the County Central Committees, and filling vacancies in nominations by political parties.
You have advised that most of such questions concern themselves with SDC 16.0241, as amended by Section 6 of Chapter 107 of the Session Laws of 1963, and SDC 16.0243.
The questions you have submitted are as follows:
- Who makes up the County Central Committee for a political party?
- Are delegates to the state convention entitled to participate in the county political organization?
- Would County Commissioners whose term of office does not expire during the particular political year be entitled to participate in the county political organization?
- In what political affairs may the candidates for public office in the county participate?
- In case there is a vacancy in nomination for a county office, who selects the person to fill such vacancy on behalf of a political party?
- In case of a vacancy in nomination for a nominee to a joint legislative district, who selects the person to fill such vacancy on behalf of a political party?
- What procedure is to be followed in making the selections of the person to fill a vacancy as set forth in questions 5 and
QUESTION 1
SDC 16.0241, as last amended by Sec. 6, Chapter 107, Laws of 1963, solves this problem. The difficulty that arises from the language of the statute is a failure to distinguish between the county political organization which is broader than the County Central Committee. As I said in my opinion reported in 1963-64 AGR 379, in answer to the direct question: "Who comprises the County Central Committee,"
"The composition of the County Central Committee comprises the precinct committeemen and precinct committeewomen elected at the primary election."
This is as is provided in the first sentence of SDC 16.0241, as amended. (See also 1930-32 AGR 190 which infers the same conclusion.)
QUESTION 2 and 3
These two questions may be answered together and the answer to each is in the NEGATIVE.
The incumbent County Commissioners and the delegates elected to the state convention, as such, are not members of the County Central Committee. By the statute (SDC 16.0241, as amended) the county political organization consists of the County Central Committee,
"together with the nominated candidates of their party, (who) shall meet at the county seat of their county at eight o'clock p.m. on the last Tuesday in June following the primary election, and proceed to form their party organization
As my predecessor said in 1929-30 AGR 169, and 1947-48 AGR 293, delegates to the state convention are "elected" at the primary. They are not nominated candidates." Such delegates are not authorized to participate in the county political organization. Likewise, an incumbent County Commissioner whose term will not expire during such election year, is not a nominated candidate during that year, he is an "elected candidate." He is not legally authorized to participate in the county political organization.
QUESTION 4
In forming the county party organization, under SDC 16.0241, as amended, the County Central Committee together with the elected candidates form the county party organization. The election of the county chairman and vice chairman, secretary and treasurer, and the state committeeman and state committeewoman is performed by the Central Committee and the nominated candidates. (Incidentally, in 1941-42 AGR 398, it was held that a candidate could be elected to be an officer of such county party organization. I might add that it is my opinion that subject to the six limitations placed in the statute itself, any resident of the county could be so elected to the county party organization.)
The statute also provides that in filling vacancies in the County Central Committee, or of an officer of such party organization, only the "County Central Committee' has authority to act. Thus in this area, the nominated candidates cannot act.
We can appreciate that during a political campaign many questions of strategy may arise. It is my opinion that SDC 16.0241, in providing for one specific date for meeting didn't intend to limit the county political organization from meeting on different occasions on the call of its county chairman. In these meetings, it is my opinion that the County Central Committee and the nominated candidates have authority to determine the course of action to be taken in the county political campaign.
QUESTIONS 5 and 6
These questions may be considered together, as the answer to each lies in SDC 16.0243. This statute provides for filling vacancies in nomination by political parties throughout the entire slate of nominees for political office.
The statute insofar as it is applicable to a vacancy in nomination for a county office, provides the vacancy, under the proper conditions, may be filled by the party County Central Committee of the county in which such vacancy occurs. Likewise, when the vacancy is in nomination for a
joint legislative district, if the statutory conditions are present, it is filled by the party County Central Committees of each of the counties comprising the joint legislative district.
As I have previously advised, the party County Central Committee is limited to the precinct committeemen and committeewomen of such affected county, in case of a county office. It must follow in the joint legislative district it is these committeemen and committeewomen of all affected counties.
It is this group, the County Central Committee or Committees of the particular political party that have the exclusive authority to fill such vacancy. see 1933-34 AGR 309.
QUESTION 7
It is axiomatic in our political policy, that "proxy" voting, unless authorized by statute, is not permitted. It is my opinion that initially whether a meeting is called to fill a vacancy in party nomination for either a county office or a joint legislative district, that only the County Central Committee members that appear and participate in selection to fill the vacancy can vote on the proposition, and no vote can be cast either as a proxy or agent of any committee member not present.
While there may be many theories advanced as to the proper method of proceeding to select a person to fill a vacancy in nomination, to discuss and analyze the merits thereof would be academic, for the reason that the statute itself (SDC 16.0243) provides the exclusive method of determining the person to fill a vacancy in nomination either for a county office or a joint legislative district office. Said statute, in part, provides:
"Vacancies filled by state committeemen shall be by unit representation, each committeeman casting the number of votes cast in his county as the last general election for his party's candidate for Governor; all other vacancies shall be filled by a majority vote of the committeemen."
The selection to fill a vacancy in either county office, or for a joint legislative district, is not a function of the State committeemen. This is a function solely entrusted either to the Party County Central Committee, in case of a county nominee for office, or all of the County Central Committees of the counties in a joint legislative district.
In making such selection each County Central Committeeman present at such meeting has but a single vote to determine who should fill such vacancy. None has the right to cast a vote for an absent committeeman. A majority of the votes of those present at such meeting, be it a county meeting, or a joint legislative district meeting, determines who shall be certified as the person to fill such vacancy, and be the party nominee for the political office in question.