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To the Editor:
With all due respect to Grace Freeman’s letter to the editor (Nov. 18, 2022, issue) she doesn’t understand the legal requirements for dividing the state into legislative districts. Legislative districts are required by United States Supreme Court decision and by the South Dakota Constitution to have similar populations. None of the 66 counties in South Dakota are entitled to have their “own” legislators.
According to the 2020 census, South Dakota has a population of 886,667. Divided by 35 Legislative Districts, that means that each district must have a population of about 25,333. Clay County, with a population 14,246, is far short of enough population to be its own district. Since at least 1938, Clay County has been joined with other counties to create a legislative district with sufficient population. Usually that has been Union County or Turner County or parts of those counties.
The present legislative districting plan in South Dakota was passed a year ago (November 2021) with bipartisan support. All of the Democrats in the Senate and all of the Democrats in the House voted for it. Ryan Cwach, the Democratic Representative from Yankton, who was on the redistricting committee, was quoted in the Yankton Press & Dakotan as saying South Dakota’s redistricting plan was the fairest plan in the entire country.
District 17 Sen. Arthur Rusch (Until January of 2023)
Vermillion
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