A Sioux Falls resident votes in the city and school board election at Southern Hills United Methodist Church on April 9, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
In the run-up to the Nov. 5 election, South Dakota voters should be hearing quite a bit about seven ballot issues. Looking back, there are some lessons inherent in the way some of those ballot issues were handled in this election cycle.
People seem to like medical marijuana.
One of the first stories of this election cycle was a petition effort to ban medical marijuana. That effort never got off the ground or anywhere near the ballot.
While recreational marijuana has had a tough time on the ballot and in the courts, people seem to like medical marijuana just fine. It would have been a shame to vote on a ban after the South Dakota Legislature has gone to the trouble of filing multiple bills in an effort to nail down all the regulations needed for a medical marijuana program.