The 2026 midterm elections: The local voting impact

     The 2026 United States Midterm elections are less than a week away. South Dakotans will vote in nine different candidate elections, ranging from state representatives to attorney general and state auditors, and four main amendments to vote on.

     The amendments are creating a trust fund for any unclaimed land (Amendment K), requiring a 60% approval threshold for future constitutional amendments (Amendment L), a move to disallow those who are not United States citizens to vote in future elections (Amendment J), and a move to restrict Medicaid expansion below 90% of the program’s cost (Amendment I).

     Voting is the primary way to state what a citizen wants and doesn’t want in your government as a democracy. According to The Independent Voter Project, only around 64% of South Dakota residents are registered to vote, with ~52% being Republican voters, and ~47% combined being voters for other parties (21.7% Democratic, 25.1% Independent, 0.6% other).

     “Our democracy still holds rest on our ability to our elected officials accountable, and our ability to turn out to vote,” Dr. Julia Hellwege, associate professor of Political Science, said.

     However, while statewide voting is important, Michael Card, Ph.D in Political Science emphasises the importance of municipal and local voting as well.

     “You’re concerned with what’s going on in your local community, but we often don’t think about it, we just live it… that’s why local government is important. It affects your day to day life, and it’s something you can do something about,” Card said.

     While national voting focuses on fundamental rights, local voting focuses more on intermediate community amenities and business, such as allocating funds for new businesses to move and renovating parts of Vermillion.

     “Are the amenities what you’d hope to be? Is the ability to do things outside the residence hall, maybe outside the university, so you can truly take a mental and physical break from being on the university campus, and those are things that are going to affect you every day,” Card said.

     Municipal and county voting is more connected to statewide legislations, however. In 2026, South Dakota passed a law stating that municipal and school elections on even years will be held during major election dates (Primary Election day on June 2, and General Election day on Nov. 3). Although this does not affect Vermillion, it does affect other counties outside of Clay County.

     “However, other communities, where some more students might be from, where they might still be registered, might actually have local municipal elections held now at the same time as well as possibly school board elections,” Dr. Hellwege said.

     The 2026 National Midterm Elections are held on November 3, 2026, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Early voters could’ve started voting since Sept. 18, and the voting period ends Nov. 2. While it’s important to understand what is being voted on, it is also important to vote both statewide and county wide, if possible. 

     “Those really impact our day-to-day lives, so our refuse and waste, our water, our law enforcement, our streets and roads, our snow removal, all of those decisions are made at the city and county levels,” Dr. Hellwege said.