Claim of insufficient signatures stalls smoking ban vote in South Dakota
Circuit Judge Mark Barnett issued an order Monday preventing South Dakota’s expanded smoking ban from taking effect until a legal fight is decided over whether there should be a statewide vote. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Chris Nelson said Monday that another step might be necessary in the future to cover a gap in the random-sample process South Dakota uses for checking signatures on ballot-measure petitions. That gap is a key in the dispute over whether there can be a statewide vote on the ban which was passed by the Legislature last winter.