The group Represent South Dakota met the November 6 deadline for submitting petition signatures to the Office of the Secretary of State to add a constitutional amendment to the 2018 ballot.

The amendment would tighten campaign finance and lobbying restrictions, create an independent ethics commission, and require laws changing the ballot question process to pass a public vote.

House speaker Mark Mickelson also met the deadline to turn in petition signatures for an initiative that would ban out-of-state political contributions for ballot questions, affecting groups such as Represent South Dakota.

The Office of the Secretary of State will conduct a random sampling of the signatures to determine their validity.

The group Represent South Dakota met the November 6 deadline for submitting petition signatures to the Office of the Secretary of State to add a constitutional amendment to the 2018 ballot.

The amendment would tighten campaign finance and lobbying restrictions, create an independent ethics commission, and require laws changing the ballot question process to pass a public vote.

House speaker Mark Mickelson also met the deadline to turn in petition signatures for an initiative that would ban out-of-state political contributions for ballot questions, affecting groups such as Represent South Dakota.

The Office of the Secretary of State will conduct a random sampling of the signatures to determine their validity.

The group Represent South Dakota announced plans to lead efforts for a ballot measure in 2018 to amend South Dakota’s constitution to tighten ethics laws.

The Voter Protection and Anti-Corruption Amendment would ban lobbyist gifts to politicians, lower campaign contribution limits, and restrict the ability of lawmakers to overturn laws passed by voters.

Represent South Dakota has already filed the proposal with the Legislative Research Council and expects to start collecting signatures in June 2017.

The push for the new constitutional amendment comes in response to the recent repeal of Initiated Measure 22. Initiated Measure 22 was the voter approved ethics and campaign finance overhaul that established various lobbying and campaign finance restrictions.