An Act to revise certain provisions regarding the voting rights of felony offenders.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of South Dakota:

Section 1. That § 12-4-18 be AMENDED:

12-4-18. Voter Registration--Mentally Incompetent--Deceased--Felony Incarceration.

The clerk of courts shall, within fifteen days after the close of each month, prepare and deliver to the auditor an abstract from the records of the names of persons declared mentally incompetent in the preceding month. The notice shall be sent to the county auditor of the county in which the person declared incompetent resides. The county auditor shall remove from the master registration list the names of persons identified in accordance with the information provided pursuant to this section and names of those sentenced to imprisonment in the federal penitentiary system and may remove names published in an obituary.

Voter registration records maintained in or transmitted to the statewide voter registration file shall be matched with the death records maintained as vital statistics records by the Department of Health and the records of those incarcerated in the state penitentiary system for felony convictions maintained by the Unified Judicial System Department of Corrections. Any voter identified as deceased or who is serving a sentence currently incarcerated for a felony conviction shall be removed from the voter registration records. The State Board of Elections may promulgate rules, pursuant to chapter 1-26, determining how voter registration records shall be matched.

Section 2. This Act is effective on January 1, 2021.