A legislative panel has advanced a bill prohibiting ranked choice voting.
Senate Bill 55 would ban ranked voting in any South Dakota election.
Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of their preference, rather than voting for a single candidate.
Republican Sen. John Wiik is the bill’s sponsor. He say the bill "protects our Republic and the process we take to elect our leaders."
Democratic Sen. Reynold Nesiba said the bill is not needed.
"I have no idea why this bill is necessary, it's banning some that's not happening," Nesiba said.
The bill passed the Senate State Affairs Committee 7 to 1 Wednesday. It next heads to the full Senate.