South Dakota’s circuit court judges are elected by the voters in the circuit they represent every 8 years. Supreme Court justices
are subject to a retention vote where the voters are asked to decide if the justice should remain on the Supreme Court. In 2022 all forty-four
circuit judges in South Dakota are subject to election and one of the five Supreme Court justices will face retention election.
The Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention is a 9 member committee responsible for providing advisory opinions on
ethical issues that may come up during judicial elections. The Committee quickly issues opinions and has limited authority to address
allegations of misconduct in these campaigns. The goal of the Special Committee is to prevent unethical and unfair campaign practices
in judicial elections.
The South Dakota Secretary of State website has additional
information on the current elected officials, vacancies, election calendars, voting requirements, election rules, etc.