Secretary of State Monae L. Johnson has announced that Dan Ahlers will be placed on the ballot as a Democratic candidate for Governor at the Primary Election held on June 2, 2026.
A Democratic candidate for Governor requires 1,232 valid signatures in order to appear on the ballot. As outlined in SDCL § 12-1-36, the Secretary of State’s office conducted a random sample of the petition signatures and found 93.3 percent to be valid. Based on the results of the random sample, 1,818 signatures were deemed valid.
Upon the filing of a candidate petition, any interested person may challenge the Secretary of State’s validation of the petition under SDCL § 12-1-13. A person challenging the validation must submit an original, signed affidavit listing out each specific deficiency to the Secretary of State’s office no more than five business days after validation. For this candidate petition, the deadline to file a challenge is Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM (CT).
For more information on candidates who will be on the ballot at the Primary Election, please see the candidate list on the Secretary of State’s website: https://vip.sdsos.gov/candidatelist.aspx?eid=773.
