2008 election results
These results are based on the Elections Division of South Dakota. [1]
| Yes or no | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 146,831 | 43.4% | |
 No | 191,549 | 56.6% | |
| Total votes | 338,380 | 100% | |
The South Dakota Small Investors Protection Act is also known as "Initiated Measure 9". This citizen initiated constitutional amendment appeared on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot in South Dakota.
These results are based on the Elections Division of South Dakota. [1]
| Yes or no | Votes | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 146,831 | 43.4% | |
| No | 191,549 | 56.6% | |
| Total votes | 338,380 | 100% | |
Article 4 of South Dakota's Uniform Securities Act of 2002 concerns the state registration requirements and exemptions from them for broker-dealers, agents, investment advisors, investment advisor representatives, and federal covered investment advisors. [2]
This initiative aimed to amend two specific subsections to make broker-dealers, agents, investment advisors, investment advisor representatives, and federal covered investment advisors liable for up to $10,000 in damages for each violation for commercially unreasonable delay in delivery of securities that they have sold; commercially unreasonable delay being defined for the purpose of this law as more than 3 business days. [3] The purpose of this is to prohibit short-selling of securities.
Attorney General's Explanation:
"State and federal law regulates the purchase and sale of stocks and other securities.
A common "stock market" transaction is a "short sale" where, for example, an investor who believes a publicly traded stock is over-priced will borrow that stock from an owner, sell the borrowed stock, and repurchase the stock later at a lower price to repay the loan, thereby making money if the price has fallen. If the price goes up, the investor must repurchase the stock at the higher price to repay the loan, and will lose money. Measure 9 would prohibit short sales.
State law currently does not regulate the time frame for the delivery of securities upon sale. Measure 9 would prohibit anyone from routinely taking longer than three business days to deliver securities they have sold.
If it had been adopted, Measure 9 would likely have been challenged in court and may have been declared to be preempted by federal law and the United States Constitution." [4]
Measure 9 was authored by former South Dakota Attorney General Mark Meierhenry.
This initiative was supported by South Dakotans for Securities Reform, chaired by State Representative Hal Wick (R-Sioux Falls).
"South Dakotans for Securities Reform consists of stockholders and concerned citizens who want to help protect South Dakota companies, stockholders and taxpayers from the harms of stock manipulation through naked short selling and failure-to-delivers." [5]
Mark V. Meierhenry of Danforth & Meierhenry and Tim Mooney of Arno Political Consultants wrote the "pro" arguments for the state Ballot Question Pamphlet:
This ballot measure was opposed by South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds. "In a July letter to the industry association, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said promoters might have good intentions, but the proposed initiative would unduly burden and obstruct interstate commerce." [8]
Travis Larson, spokesman for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, was quoted as saying: "The SEC has been given control of our financial market regulations so that we have one single set of rules and regulations for our financial markets," Larson said. "And if every state were to pass its own rules _ some of which may run counter to the SEC _ the patchwork quilt of resulting rules and regulations would tie up our financial markets and slow them, hurting our competitiveness." [9]
The State Bar Association, South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Directors for the South Dakota retirement system were all opposed to the measure. [10] [11]
Gail Sheppick Director of the South Dakota Division of Securities wrote the "con" arguments for the state Ballot Question Pamphlet:
A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks, which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include securities listed on a public stock exchange as well as stock that is only traded privately, such as shares of private companies that are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms. Investments are usually made with an investment strategy in mind.
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on one or more stock exchanges. Through this process, colloquially known as floating, or going public, a privately held company is transformed into a public company. Initial public offerings can be used to raise new equity capital for companies, to monetize the investments of private shareholders such as company founders or private equity investors, and to enable easy trading of existing holdings or future capital raising by becoming publicly traded.
In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the market value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of the more common long position, where the investor will profit if the market value of the asset rises. An investor that sells an asset short is, as to that asset, a short seller.
A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and may need to hold a relevant license and may be a member of a stock exchange. They generally act as a financial advisor and investment manager. In this case they may also be licensed as a financial adviser such as a registered investment adviser.
Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements (pump), in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price (dump). Once the operators of the scheme "dump" (sell) their overvalued shares, the price falls and investors lose their money. This is most common with small-cap cryptocurrencies and very small corporations/companies, i.e. "microcaps".
Charles Christopher Cox is an American attorney and politician who served as chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a 17-year Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, and member of the White House staff in the Reagan Administration. Prior to his Washington service he was a practicing attorney, teacher, and entrepreneur. Following his retirement from government in 2009, he returned to law practice and currently serves as a director, trustee, and advisor to several for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
In the politics of the United States, the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a referendum or popular vote, either enacting new legislation, or voting down existing legislation. Citizens, or an organization, might start a popular initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum, or actual vote.
In finance, securities lending or stock lending refers to the lending of securities by one party to another.
Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of short-selling a tradable asset of any kind without first borrowing the asset from someone else or ensuring that it can be borrowed. When the seller does not obtain the asset and deliver it to the buyer within the required time frame, the result is known as a "failure to deliver" (FTD). The transaction generally remains open until the asset is acquired and delivered by the seller, or the seller's broker settles the trade on their behalf.
In economics and finance, market manipulation is a type of market abuse where there is a deliberate attempt to interfere with the free and fair operation of the market; the most blatant of cases involve creating false or misleading appearances with respect to the price of, or market for, a product, security or commodity.
Stocks consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares. This typically entitles the shareholder (stockholder) to that fraction of the company's earnings, proceeds from liquidation of assets, or voting power, often dividing these up in proportion to the number of like shares each stockholder owns. Not all stock is necessarily equal, as certain classes of stock may be issued, for example, without voting rights, with enhanced voting rights, or with a certain priority to receive profits or liquidation proceeds before or after other classes of shareholders.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It was a component of the government's measures in 2009 to address the subprime mortgage crisis.
Oregon Ballot Measure 59 was an initiated state statute ballot measure sponsored by Bill Sizemore that appeared on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot in Oregon, United States. If it had passed, Oregon would have join Alabama, Iowa, and Louisiana as the only states to allow federal income taxes to be fully deducted on state income tax returns.
The South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act, or Initiated Measure 10, was a South Dakota initiative that would ban taxpayer-funded lobbying, stop the exchange of campaign donations for state contracts, and open a website with information on state contracts. The Open and Clean Government Act was proposed as a citizen-initiated state statute and appeared on the November 4, 2008 ballot.
Martin J. Jackley is an American attorney and politician who is currently serving as the Attorney General of South Dakota since 2023, having previously served from 2009 to 2019. He assumed office as Attorney General again in 2023 after winning the 2022 election unopposed. He previously served as the 39th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of South Dakota in 2018, losing the Republican primary to Kristi Noem.
Cannabis in South Dakota is legal for medical use as of July 1, 2021, having been legalized by a ballot initiative on November 3, 2020. Prior to then, cannabis was fully illegal, with South Dakota being the only U.S. state which outlawed ingestion of controlled substances. Testing positive for cannabis can be a misdemeanor offense. South Dakota would have become the first state in US history to legalize recreational and medical cannabis simultaneously, but an amendment legalizing recreational marijuana that was approved in the same election was struck down as unconstitutional the following February. The challenge claimed the amendment violated Amendment Z, the "Single-Subject Rule". The decision was appealed to the South Dakota Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court's decision on November 24, 2021.
South Dakota Initiated Measure 26 was a 2020 voter initiative to legalize medical cannabis in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The initiative was certified by the South Dakota Secretary of State for the 2020 ballot on December 19, 2019. The sponsor of the initiative was New Approach South Dakota, a volunteer group headed by Melissa Mentele. The group had unsuccessfully tried to get an initiative on the 2018 ballot. Polling in September 2020 indicated 70% voter support for the initiative.
South Dakota state elections in 2020 were held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Its primary elections were held on June 2, 2020.
South Dakota Constitutional Amendment A, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative, was a cannabis legalization initiative that appeared on the November 3, 2020 South Dakota general election ballot. Passing with 54% of the vote, the measure would have legalized recreational marijuana in South Dakota effective July 1, 2021. Additionally, Amendment A required the South Dakota State Legislature to establish a medical marijuana program and legal hemp sales by April 1, 2022.
The following is a list of ballot measures, whether initiated by legislators or citizens, which had been certified to appear on various states' ballots during the 2024 United States elections. Those which did not make on the ballot are included on the page but their status is noted that they did not appear on the ballot.
