The Surprising Way South Dakota Is Beating All Other States

Though you might not be looking forward to the repetitive television ads, the knocks of canvassers on your door, or the popping up of yard signs in your neighborhood, there is one reason to be excited about the midterms: Elections are better run now than ever before, according to a report published by the Pew Charitable Trust’s State and Consumer Initiatives program.
The average person who cast a ballot in 2012 had to wait in line for three minutes less than she did in 2008. This is obviously exciting information. In those extra minutes of freedom in November, you could listen to Beyoncé’s song “XO” or watch Anna Kendrick’s SuperBowl ad or tweet about democracy. (The latter definitely being the most socially responsible.)
In addition to lower wait times in most states, fewer people with disabilities or illnesses had trouble voting in 2012. Technology was key to the streamlining; many more states offered online voter registration, for example.
“This is a bipartisan mix of states. This is not something that only Republicans or Democrats have license to,” David Becker, Pew’s director of Election Initiatives, told the Washington Post.
The Pew survey measured state performance based on 17 different indicators, including the number of registrations and mail-in ballots that were rejected. Mississippi performed the worst: Not as many voters turned out there as in other states, and when they did, they had to wait in line longer than the national average. Mississippi has no online registration.
Other fun facts: While the District of Columbia has the highest percentage of registered residents (92 percent), voters with disabilities or illnesses had the hardest time casting votes there. Disabled voters in Washington State, where mail-in ballots are the norm, had the easiest time.
The state that fared best across all seventeen indicators was South Dakota. In fact, South Dakota has scored highest in all three Pew Elections Performance Index Reports.
Who knew South Dakota was killing it, election wise? Never again should you assume that the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore are all South Dakotans have to brag about.

Watch: How Rock the Vote Is Reaching Millennials

Heather Smith, Rock the Vote board chairwoman, was doing what she does best at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas, this week: Donning a #TrendUrVoice T shirt, she stood in the rain on Thursday registering voters alongside both the  famous (actress Rosario Dawson, chair of Voto Latino) and the newly converted (student volunteers). “Our strategy is just to go where the young people are,” she says of the Rock the Vote presence at the music and media conference.
That strategy has worked for the nonprofit since its inception. When Rock the Vote was founded in 1990, MTV was one of the surest ways to reach young people. In the last 23 years, however, dozens of new media outlets have hit the scene, while political campaigns drew major stars to political fundraisers and celebs started to take on their own causes.
Rock the Vote had to motivate and mobilize millennials, making them feel that voting, like music, is something that is a part of their identity. “We moved from LA to Washington, DC so we could be in the middle of all this and say, ‘Hey, pay attention to us. Start talking about these issues,’” she says. Rock the Vote has also branched out to launch new programs like Spin the Vote for electronic dance music fans. “The strength of our democracy really does depend on the participation of its citizens,” Smith said, emphasizing the importance of redefining citizenship in our country before heading back in the rain. “It’s showing up on election day and everyday in between.”
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