What to expect in South Dakota on Election Day

Offices on the ballot

South Dakota voters will elect leaders for federal, state and other offices on Tuesday. The ballot therefore reaches across multiple levels of government rather than focusing on a single office or contest.

Election Day has two distinct parts: voters cast ballots, and election officials tally those votes. The results reported from South Dakota will reflect choices for offices with different responsibilities at the federal, state and other levels.

Each contest will produce its own set of vote totals. Results in one office do not determine the result in another, even when those contests appear on the same ballot. Voters following the election should treat every contest as a separate decision.

Watching the count

The AP Decision Team will monitor data as South Dakota’s votes are tallied. Its focus will be the election information that emerges during the count and what that information shows in each contest.

The central questions Tuesday are how the vote totals develop and when the data establish an outcome. The timing may differ from one contest to another because each office has a separate count and result.

Reported totals will be the key information to watch as the process moves from voting to counting. Federal, state and other offices should be followed individually, with attention to the data for each race rather than conclusions drawn from another contest.