Virginia nonprofit outfunds South Dakota state groups to open primary – The Daily Progress

Article IV is a nonprofit advocacy organization in Arlington. He spent $889,145 on large postcard and online ads for Amendment H, according to reports filed with the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office.

Some of the postcards featured images of soldiers with tape over their mouths, along with a claim that Amendment H would “protect veteran voters” who “cannot fully participate in our political process.”

This statement is related to South Dakota’s current primary election system, where Republicans only allow Republicans to vote, while Democrats allow Democrats and independents to vote.

Amendment H, one of seven statewide questions on South Dakota’s ballot Tuesday, proposes opening up future primaries and putting all candidates, regardless of party, on one ballot open to all voters. The top two vote getters will advance to the general election. In two-winner races, such as state House districts, the top four will advance to the general election.

Some veterans have spoken out against the Article IV postcards, saying they use veterans as a prop for a political agenda and also said veterans can currently register with a political party and run in the party’s primary. Some of the other Article IV postcards support Amendment H more generally and do not mention veterans.

Article IV is a 501(c)(4), a type of nonprofit group sometimes described as a “dark money” group because it is allowed to participate in political campaigns and is not required to publicly disclose its donors.

No one at Article IV returned messages from South Dakota Searchlight, and the group’s website revealed few details beyond the mission to “improve the health of American democracy by enacting reforms that align citizens’ interests with policymakers’ incentives.” The website also describes a form of open primaries as a solution: “Top-4 and Top-5 nonpartisan primaries in which anyone, regardless of party, can participate are better than the alternative.”

Some of the group information is available in public IRS documents that nonprofit groups must file. Article IV’s 2022 filing — the most recent found by Searchlight — said the group had $11 million in revenue and made contributions to statewide primary reform efforts, such as a $12,600 donation to Open Primaries Inc., $342,000 for Oregon Ranked Choice Voting and $400,000 for Utah Ranked Choice Voting.

Meanwhile, supporters and opponents of the state’s open primaries have formed ballot committees that are required to disclose donors and additional details about fundraising and spending.

The pro-Open Primaries Ballot Commission spent $439,211 on advertising between May and Oct. 15, according to the latest campaign finance report, while opponents spent $18,481.

South Dakota Open Primary Chairman Joe Kirby told Searchlight that his Commission on Voting has no direct contact with Article IV, nor does the commission have control over what the organization advertises.

That’s “the way the system works,” Kirby added.

“That’s what happens with politicians, too: outsiders spend money for or against them,” Kirby said, adding that there is national interest in electoral reform. “There’s not much you can do about it. Outside interests have a big say in all elections, including for governor and congressional delegation. This is not unique to our ballot problem.”

In another example of outside “dark money” influencing a South Dakota ballot question this year, supporters of an amendment that would restore abortion rights in South Dakota received $540,000 in donations from Think Big America, a nonprofit group in Illinois.

Article IV spends its own money directly on advertising rather than donating to the Open Primaries Ballot Questions Committee. The Open Primaries Committee has raised more than $750,000 since May, mainly from a group of business leaders in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, while opponents broke $100,000 in fundraising a week before the election.

Three-quarters of the $777,225 in Open Primaries ballot committee fundraising came from eight households in southeastern South Dakota.

• $250,000 in total contributions from Kirby and his wife, Jennifer, of Sioux Falls.

• $110,000 from Dave Knudson, a Sioux Falls attorney and former South Dakota lawmaker, and his wife, Deanna, who serves as the commission’s treasurer.

• $103,400 from gas station and convenience store owner Heinz Inc. Tom Heinz and his wife Jane Heinz of Dakota Dunes.

• $50,000 from Matt Paulson of Sioux Falls, owner and founder of MarketBeat.

• $25,000 from Dana Dykhouse of Sioux Falls, CEO of First Premier Bank.

• $25,000 from Dan Kirby of Kirby Financial in Sioux Falls and brother of Joe Kirby.

• $25,000 from Nathan Peterson of Sioux Falls.

• And $10,000 from Kevin Schiffer of Sioux Falls, past president of the South Dakota Board of Regents.

Other large contributions include $100,000 from Mark Merrill, co-founder and former CEO of Riot Games, in Santa Monica, Calif., and $25,000 each from Avera Health and First Premier Bank, both based in Sioux Falls.

Opponents of Amendment H formed the No-H Ballot Committee and raised $90,276. The largest contribution to the ballot committee was $35,000 from James Koehler, an Aberdeen, South Dakota resident, businessman and namesake of the Northern State University Koehler Hall of Fame.

This story was originally published in the South Dakota Searchlight.