Rapid City, S.D. (July 23, 2025) – The South Dakota Freedom Caucus calls for immediate action from Secretary of State Monae Johnson for neglecting the statutory mandate under HB 1062 (effective March 31, 2025) to make the statewide voter registration file publicly available. This law clearly states: “The secretary of state shall post a weekly update to the statewide voter registration file to the secretary’s website… recorded each Monday by 11:59 p.m.”

HB 1062 also stipulates that a rolling five-year archive of this file must be “made available free of charge.” These requirements are not optional. They are the law. Yet today, the master file remains hidden behind an application process on the Secretary of State’s website, not open for immediate public inspection as mandated.

This is unacceptable. HB 1062 was designed to ensure transparency and integrity in our elections by making voter data—including registration dates, absentee applications, and last-voted dates—accessible to all, free of charge. Instead, the Secretary’s current protocol limits access, directly violating the legislature’s intent. The law demands a publicly posted file; an application-based method does not satisfy that requirement.

The Freedom Caucus insists that the Secretary of State rectify this oversight immediately. We call upon the office to begin posting the statewide master file, updated weekly and archived for five years, on the official site no later than next Monday at 11:59 p.m.