Constitution of South Dakota — Article XXVI: ARTICLE XXVI SCHEDULE AND ORDINANCE 1. Continuation of prior writs, actions, claims, and bodies corporate--Validation of previously issued process. 2. Fines, forfeitures, and escheats of territory to accrue to state. 3. Recognizances, bonds, obligations, and undertakings--Criminal prosecutions and penal actions. 4. Civil and military officers. 5. Election of Constitution and state officers--Ballots. 6. Election for temporary seat of government. 7. Conduct of election. 8. Election returns. 9. Canvass of vote--Filing with county clerks or auditors. 10. Certification of senator or representative from multi-county district. 11. Delivery of returns to proper state officer--Certification to president--Proclamation of election result--Lists of elected officers--Certificates of election. 12. Apportionment of state Legislature--Number of senators and representatives initially elected. 13. First assembly of Legislature--Oaths of office. 14. Election of two United States senators--Two representatives. 15. Adjournment after election of senators--Next meeting. 16. Legislature and officers to exercise necessary and authorized powers only pending admission of state into union. 17. Validity of ordinances and schedule. 18. Freedom of religion--Public lands--Indian lands--Uniformity of taxation--Territorial debt--Public schools--Federal reservations--Irrevocability. 19. Tenure of elected officers. 20. Time of general election. 21. Form of ballot. 22. Enrollment of Constitution--Delivery to secretary of state--Inclusion in state laws--Copy to President of United States. 23. Agreement by joint commission concerning territorial records, books, and archives.

     § 1.   Continuation of prior writs, actions, claims, and bodies corporate--Validation of previously issued process. That no inconvenience may arise from the change of the territorial government to the permanent state government, it is hereby declared that all writs, actions, prosecutions, claims and rights of individuals, and all bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government; and all process which may be before the organization of the judicial department, under this Constitution, issued under the authority of the territory of Dakota, within the boundary of this state, shall be as valid as if issued in the name of the state of South Dakota.

     § 2.   Fines, forfeitures, and escheats of territory to accrue to state. That all fines, penalties, forfeitures and escheats accruing to the territory of Dakota, within the boundary of the state of South Dakota, shall accrue to the use of said state.

     § 3.   Recognizances, bonds, obligations, and undertakings--Criminal prosecutions and penal actions. That all recognizances, bonds, obligations or other undertakings, heretofore taken, or which may be taken before the organization of the judicial department under this Constitution, shall remain valid, and shall pass over to, and may be prosecuted in the name of the state of South Dakota; and all bonds, obligations or undertakings, executed to this territory, within the boundaries of the state of South Dakota, or to any officer in his official capacity, shall pass over to the proper state authority, and to their successors in office, for the uses therein respectively expressed, and may be sued for and recovered accordingly.

     § 4.   Civil and military officers. All officers, civil and military, now holding their offices and appointments in this territory under the authority of the United States, or under the authority of the territory of Dakota, shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices and appointments until superseded under this Constitution: provided, that the provisions of the above sections shall be subject to the provisions of the act of Congress providing for the admission of the state of South Dakota, approved by the president of the United States on February 22, 1889.

     § 5.   Election of Constitution and state officers--Ballots. This Constitution shall be submitted for adoption or rejection to a vote of the electors qualified by the laws of this territory to vote at all elections, at the election to be held on Tuesday, October 1, 1889.

     § 6.   Election for temporary seat of government. At the same time and places of election there shall be held by said qualified electors an election for the place of the temporary seat of government.

     § 7.   Conduct of election. The election provided for herein shall be under the provisions of the Constitution herewith submitted, and shall be conducted in all respects as elections are conducted under the general laws of the territory of Dakota, except as herein provided. No mere technicalities or informalities in the manner or form of election, or neglect of any officer to perform his duty with regard thereto, shall be deemed to vitiate or avoid the same, it being the true intent and object of this ordinance to ascertain and give effect to the true will of the people of the state of South Dakota, as expressed by their votes at the polls.

     § 8.   Election returns. Immediately after the election herein provided for, the judges of election at each voting place shall make a true and complete count of all the votes duly cast at such election, and shall certify and return the result of the same, with the names of all the candidates and the number of votes cast for each candidate, and the number of votes cast for and against the Constitution, and the number of votes cast for and against prohibition, and the number of votes cast for and against minority representation, and the number of votes cast for each city, town or place for the "temporary seat of government," to the county clerk, or auditor of the respective counties, together with one of the poll lists and election books used in said election.

     § 9.   Canvass of vote--Filing with county clerks or auditors. Within five days after said election the several boards of county canvassers provided by law for the canvassing of the results of the election, shall make and certify to the secretary of the territory of Dakota the true and correct return of the total number of votes cast for the Constitution, and against the Constitution, of the number of votes cast for and against "prohibition," and the number of votes cast for and against "minority representation," and the number of votes cast for each city, town or place as the "temporary seat of government," and of the number of votes cast for each person voted for at such election, except county officers and members of the Legislature, and shall transmit the same to the secretary of the territory of Dakota, by mail, and shall file with the county clerk or auditor of each of said counties a duplicate and certified copy of said return.

     § 10.   Certification of senator or representative from multi-county district. When two or more counties are connected in one senatorial or representative district, it shall be the duty of the clerks and auditors of the respective counties to attend at the office of the county clerk of the senior county in the date of organization within twenty days after the date of election, and they shall compare the votes given in the several counties comprising such senatorial and representative district and such clerks or auditors shall immediately make out a certificate of election to the person having the highest number of votes in such district for state senator or representative or both; which certificate shall be delivered to the person entitled thereto on his application to the clerk of the senior county of such district.

     § 11.   Delivery of returns to proper state officer--Certification to president--Proclamation of election result--Lists of elected officers--Certificates of election. The secretary of the territory shall receive all returns of election transmitted to him as above provided, and shall preserve the same, and after they have been canvassed as hereinafter provided, and after the admission of the state of South Dakota into the union, he shall deliver said returns to the proper state officer of said state of South Dakota.

     § 12.   Apportionment of state Legislature--Number of senators and representatives initially elected. The apportionment made in this Constitution shall govern the elections above provided for for members of the state Legislature, until otherwise provided by law.

     § 13.   First assembly of Legislature--Oaths of office. The Legislature elected under the provisions of this ordinance and Constitution shall assemble at the temporary seat of government on the third Tuesday in October, in the year A. D. 1889, at 12 o'clock noon, and on the first day of their assemblage the Governor and other state officers shall take the oath of office in the presence of the Legislature. The oath of office shall be administered to the members of the Legislature and to the state officers by the chief justice of the territory, or by any other officer duly authorized by the laws of the territory of Dakota to administer oaths.

     § 14.   Election of two United States senators--Two representatives. Immediately after the organization of the Legislature and taking the oath of office by the state officers, the Legislature shall then and there proceed to the election of two senators of the United States for the state of South Dakota, in the mode and manner provided by the laws of Congress for the election of United States senators. And the Governor and the secretary of the state of South Dakota shall certify the election of the said senators and two representatives in Congress, in the manner required by law.

     § 15.   Adjournment after election of senators--Next meeting. Immediately after the election of the United States senators as above provided for, said Legislature shall adjourn to meet at the temporary seat of government on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of January, 1890, at 12 o'clock m.; provided, however, that if the state of South Dakota has not been admitted by proclamation or otherwise at said date, then said Legislature shall convene within ten days after the date of the admission of the state into the union.

     § 16.   Legislature and officers to exercise necessary and authorized powers only pending admission of state into union. Nothing in this Constitution or schedule contained shall be construed to authorize the Legislature to exercise any powers except such as are necessary to its first organization, and to elect United States senators, and to adjourn as above provided. Nor to authorize any officer of the executive, administrative or judiciary departments to exercise any duties of his office until the state of South Dakota shall have been regularly admitted into the union, excepting such as may be authorized by the Congress of the United States.

     § 17.   Validity of ordinances and schedule. The ordinances and schedule enacted by this convention shall be held to be valid for all the purposes thereof.

     § 18.   Freedom of religion--Public lands--Indian lands--Uniformity of taxation--Territorial debt--Public schools--Federal reservations--Irrevocability. That we, the people of the state of South Dakota, do ordain:

     § 19.   Tenure of elected officers. The tenure of all officers, whose election is provided for in this schedule, on the first day of October, A. D. 1889, shall be as follows:

     § 20.   Time of general election. That the first general election under the provisions of this Constitution shall be held on the first Tuesday, after the first Monday, in November, 1890, and every two years thereafter.

     § 21.   Form of ballot. The following form of ballot is adopted:



     § 22.   Enrollment of Constitution--Delivery to secretary of state--Inclusion in state laws--Copy to President of United States. This Constitution shall be enrolled and after adoption and signing by the convention shall be delivered to Hon. A. J. Edgerton, the president of the constitutional convention, for safekeeping, and by him to be delivered to the secretary of state as soon as he assumes the duties of his office, and printed copies thereof shall be prefixed to the books containing the laws of the state and all future editions thereof.

     § 23.   Agreement by joint commission concerning territorial records, books, and archives. The agreement made by the joint commission of the constitutional conventions of North and South Dakota concerning the records, books, and archives of the territory of Dakota is hereby ratified and confirmed, which agreement is in the words following: That is to say: