Is SD the only state with 35% election runoff rule?

South Dakota is the only state in the nation that requires candidates receive 35% of the vote to win a multi-candidate primary in certain races.

Several states require a candidate to receive at least 50% of the vote in some primaries, and three states require runoff elections in some general elections. North Carolina’s is 30% in some races.

In South Dakota, the runoff rule is used in U.S. Senate, U.S. House and the governor’s primaries.

Republican gubernatorial candidates Toby Doeden and Larry Rhoden will face off in a runoff July 28 after neither candidate received 35% of the vote in the four-person primary. 

The South Dakota law was passed in 1985. Before that, delegates at state party conventions decided the winner if a primary candidate didn’t receive 35% of the vote. Doeden called the law “ridiculous” after he finished first but didn’t secure 35% of the vote.