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Thursday, Sep 24, 2026

Do Independents and no-party voters outnumber Democrats in SD?

Michael Klinski, South Dakota News Watch
yes

South Dakota has more voters who have registered themselves as Independent or No Party Affiliation (NPA) than Democrats as of Sept. 1, 2026.

The latest tally on the Secretary of State website reports 86,837 Independents and 69,182 NPA for a total of 156,019 voters. There are 134,453 registered Democrats.

Voters are considered Independent or NPA if they write “Independent, I, Ind, no party affiliation, no party, no choice, nonpartisan, or cross off the party choice” on their voter registration form or if they leave the party choice blank during first-time registration.

A state voter-registration presentation describes Independent and NPA voters as “one and the same.” The Secretary of State separately tracks the two categories in its voter-registration totals. The state Democratic Party allows registered Independent/NPA voters to participate in its primary elections.

In South Dakota, there are only three recognized parties: Democratic, Libertarian and Republican.

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