South Dakota No Kings events emphasize advance voting

Listen to an audio version of this story produced by reporter Meghan O’Brien. Broadcasters: see below for a downloadable version with a host intro script.

Nearly 32,000 South Dakotans have already voted in advance of the Nov. 3 general election, and supporters of the No Kings movement want to push that number higher.

The fourth round of nationwide day-long No Kings demonstrations was Saturday. Eight were held in South Dakota, including the state’s largest city of Sioux Falls, where hundreds showed up to support the advance voting message. In Pierre, the state’s capital city, a few dozen participated. Events were also held in Rapid City, Aberdeen, Watertown, Brookings, Yankton and Vermillion.

Ann Holzhauer said “concern for our country” brought her to the demonstration in Pierre, “specifically in regard to elections.”

“We didn’t have concerns about election security and election integrity until Donald Trump came along,” she said. “And as of yet, no evidence has been presented to prove his allegations regarding elections, and I think it’s really important for people to know that.”

With the control of Congress at stake, President Donald Trump and his aides have refused to rule out interfering in the elections. In an interview with Time magazine published recently, when Trump was asked about sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct enforcement actions at the polls, he said only that he hadn’t thought of it. He also addressed whether he’d declare a national emergency to impose regulations on the election.

“I don’t rule anything out or in. We’ll see,” Trump said.

Actions like those are “un-American,” according to Michael Strickland, who attended the rally in Pierre.

“They’re trying to steal the election and make it harder for people who they think are going to be against them to vote,” he said.

Diane Komsky lives in Lake Benton, Minnesota, but drove about an hour to the Sioux Falls event because of her opposition to the “madness in the White House.”

“I want to give peace a real chance for families in the United States,” Komsky said.

Komsky plans to vote early.

“Voting is our voice,” Komsky said.

Millions were expected to participate in No Kings events nationwide Saturday. The events have grown from 5 million attendees across 2,100 individual events on June 14, 2025, to more than 7 million at 2,700 events on Oct. 18, 2025, and 8 million across 3,330 events on March 28, 2026, according to organizers.

Advance voting is underway in South Dakota, and the voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 general election is Monday. Ballots in South Dakota include four proposed state constitutional amendments and races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor and the Legislature, along with various local races and issues.

South Dakota Searchlight’s Makenzie Huber contributed to this report.