PU3LIC AFFAIR Governmental Research Bureau • The University of South Dakota • Vermillion, SD 57069 No. 91 'Celebrating the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Year of Public Affairs" February, 1985 THE 1984 ELECTION IN SOUTH DAKOTA by Alan L. Clem About the Author: Dr. Clem is Professor of Political Science at the University of South constitutional amendment to combine the offices of state treasurer and Dakota. A long-time and often-quoted observer of South Dakota politics, Professor Clem commissioner of school and public lands; (2) narrowly approved an has written numerous books, including American Electoral Politics: Strategies for initiated law to force school districts to begin school after Labor Day Renewal, The Making of Congressmen: Seven Campaigns of 1974, Prairie State Politics: Popular Democracy in South Dakota, and Law Enforcement: The South rather than before; (3) overwhelmingly approved an initiated law to Dakota Experience. Dr. Clem formerly served as Chair of the Department of Political require a statewide election on questions of disposal of nuclear waste Science and as Associate Director of the Governmental Research Bureau. or participation in nuclear waste disposal compacts; and (4) defeated an initiated law which would have required the governor to inform Introduction the president that the state favors a verifiable freeze on nuclear South Dakotans in 1984 expressed considerable confidence in the weapons with the Soviet Union. incumbents in political office, whether Republican or Democratic. Voters gave substantial approval to continuance on the state's Congressman Tom Daschle won big, receiving 57.4 percent of the vote Supreme Court for Justices Robert Morgan and Roger Wollman, under against Republican challenger Dale Bell. President Ronald Reagan the state's modified Missouri judicial election system. One other won bigger, gaining 63.3 percent of the vote against Democrat Walter notable consequence of the 1984 races across South Dakota was that Mondale. Senator Larry Pressler won by the biggest margin of all, nine of thirteen state's attorneys running for re-election were defeated. taking 74.5 percent of the vote against Democrat George Cunningham One rueful state's attorney concluded that "we step on too many toes" (see Table 1 for the voting results in statewide contests, and Table 2 as the county officer responsible for legal affairs, and after so many for county-level returns). Altogether, South Dakota's 1984 election years in office "we have simply made too many enemies" (Baka, could be considered another general victory for the Republican party, November 17, 1984: 1). but Daschle's re-election to the House of Representatives gave the Democrats at least one victory in a major contest (Table 3 shows Some Noteworthy Numbers major contest victories since 1954, by party). According to figures released by Secretary of State Alice Kundert just before the general election in November, there were 211,177 In other races, Democrat Ken Stofferahn was re-elected to the registered Republicans, 192,274 registered Democrats, and 39,339 Public Utilities Commission in the only statewide officer contest on other registered voters in South Dakota. Registration figures are not the ballot. The Republican party retained firm control of both totally reliable in the state, however, because the names of people chambers of the state legislature. In 1985-86, the Republicans will who die or move away may not be cleared out of the county auditors' have a twenty-five to ten margin in the Senate and a fifty-seven to lists promptly. Therefore it is a safe assumption that the total count of thirteen margin in the lower chamber. These party numbers compare registered voters for the 1984 general election in South Dakota, with twenty-six to nine and fifty-four to sixteen from the 1982 election 442,790, is a somewhat inflated figure. returns. In addition, the voters of the state: (1) narrowly rejected a proposed Be that as it may, the number of persons voting in the 1984 presidential race among four tickets, 317,867, comes to 72 percent of The author wishes to acknowledge the help of several colleagues in reviewing and sug­ the number of registered persons. More votes were cast in the gesting improvements in and additions to early drafts of this analysis - Loren Carlson, presidential race than in any other 1984 contest; Table 4 compares Don Dahlin, William Farber, Russell Smith, and Fred Zuercher. They are not responsi­ turnout in the other statewide races against the presidential turnout. ble for any errors or interpretations. Secretary of State Alice Kundert and her staff, notably Jay D. Vogt and Darken Gage, were as always prompt and helpful in providing Turnout in the senatorial and congressional contests almost equaled the official data on which much of this analysis has been based. The author's debts to the number of votes cast for president, but there was considerable fall- national and state journalists and observers are indicated in the references. off farther down the ballot. Page Two Public Affairs February 1985 Voting turnout was down somewhat in 1984 compared to 1980 - nine of the fifteen delegates chosen directly in the primary; the 5,762 fewer South Dakotans voted in the presidential race in 1984 than remaining four delegates were chosen later at the Democratic state in 1980, though President Reagan received about two thousand more convention. All told, nine Democratic delegates were for Hart, eight votes and Walter Mondale improved on Jimmy Carter's performance were for Mondale, and two were uncommitted. by more than twelve thousand votes (in 1980, it should be State Representative Doug Cole coordinated Hart's campaign in the remembered, John Anderson had received 21,431 votes, whereas the state and later served as a Hart delegate to the national convention in two minor presidential tickets on the 1984 ballot received only 1,487 San Francisco. Another Hart delegate was former Senator George votes between them). In other words, for every one hundred South McGovern's one-time field director, Judy Harrington. Among the Dakotans who cast a vote for president in 1980, ninety-eight did so in Mondale delegates were Tom Katus, former director of the Rural 1984. The number of votes cast in the senatorial contest declined from Ethnic Institute in Rapid City, Democratic State Chairman Bob 319,612 in 1980, when James Abdnor defeated George McGovern, to Williams, and state AFL-CIO head Jack Dudley. Congressman 315,713 in 1984, a loss of 3,899 votes. The drop in votes in the Daschle and Democratic senatorial nominee George Cunningham congressional races was somewhat less, 3,081 (from 319,303 in 1980 were publicly uncommitted. when the state stil! had two congressional districts to 316,222 in 1984 Early in the primary season, a number of the state's more prominent with one congressional district). But there was a substantial gain of Democrates were on the list of potential delegates pledged to Senator 40,570 votes in 1984 compared to the 1982 congressional turnout. For John Glenn of Ohio. Glenn's weak performance in the early 1984 every one hundred South Dakotans who voted for U.S. representative primaries, however, caused him to withdraw as an active candidate in 1980, only eighty-six did so in 1982 and ninety-nine did so in 1984. long before the South Dakota primary. Sometimes a state with a late An idea of the relative voting power of each county in the state can presidential primary can play a crucial role in the party's choice of its be obtained from Table 5, which is based on voting turnout for presidential nominee, but more often than not the choice has become president in 1984. The state's most populous county, Minnehaha, cast obvious long before June. South Dakota's April filing deadline for the less than 20 percent of the statewide vote. primary sometimes results in a situation where several candidates are listed on the June ballot who are no longer viable candidates, while The Primary Election other candidates who have moved into contention late in the primary With the Republican presidential nomination a foregone conclusion, season are not on the state's ballot. what interest there was in South Dakota presidential politics centered On the Republican side, the state's nineteen-member national on the Democratic primary (Swenson, May 13, 1984: CI). Colorado convention delegation was headed by State Representative Walter Dale Senator Gary Hart earned 51 percent of the vote and was awarded Miller. Interestingly, none of the top GOP office-holders -Governor Janklow and Senators Abdnor and Pressler ~ sought seats at the Dallas convention. The last Republican national office-holder to lead the state's delegation and cut much of a swath at a national convention was Senator Karl Mundt at San Francisco in 1964. Senator Pressler was nominated for a second term without primary PU3LIC AFFAR3 opposition. His re-election campaign was enlivened by the candidacy r of George Cunningham, former administrative assistant to Senator McGovern, whose most notable line -- a reference to Pressler's SERIES LXXXV FEBRUARY 1985 BULLETIN 91 reputation as a media candidate par excellence -- was emblazoned on his campaign buttons and bumper stickers, "Not just another pretty Public Affairs, the bulletin of the Governmental face." Cunningham with little difficulty overcame the primary Research Bureau, is published four times a year, in opposition of Dean Sinclair, an unemployed former teacher who had February, April, August and November. The neither a telephone nor an automobile and argued that Congress is full Bureau staff edits the bulletin but does not accept of people just like Cunningham "and it isn't doing a very good job." responsibility on its behalf or that of the Like Pressler, Congressman Daschle encountered no primary University, for the facts presented or conclusions opposition.