Simplified: South Dakota didn't quite see the "blue wave" much of the country saw Tuesday night, but what results do show is an increasing "purple-ing" in the state's most populous city. Here's a closer look at not only voter turnout in Sioux Falls, but also the partisan lean of each precinct.

Why it matters

  • Voter turnout statewide hit historic lows in the general election compared to previous general elections (Great analysis from Searchlight's Makenzie Huber here.) But compared to the June primary, about twice as many ballots were cast in Sioux Falls.
  • And while the majority of registered voters still aren't participating in local elections, turnout on Tuesday did paint a picture of the politics of Sioux Falls and the geographical divide in our city as the core tends to lean blue and the outer ring tended to lean red.
  • Sioux Falls Simplified analyzed turnout data from the Secretary of State to determine the partisan slant of each precinct in Sioux Falls. That data also shows that more precincts lean Democrat (43 out of 79 analyzed here), but overall voter turnout trends higher in Republican precincts.
    • Only four Republican-leaning precincts saw a low voter turnout – defined as less than 45% of registered voters casting a ballot.

Show me the data

Here's a closer look at voter turnout by-precinct, with color-coding to indicate partisan lean.

Some notes on the data:

  • High turnout indicates more than 55% of voters cast a ballot
  • Medium turnout indicates between 45 and 55% turnout
  • Low turnout is anything less than 45%

How we defined the partisan lean:

We analyzed how voters leaned in seven statewide races – including the Governor, U.S. House, Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, Commissioner of School & Public Lands, and Public Utilities Commissioner.

  • If more than half of those statewide seats went to a Democratic candidate, we labeled the precinct as "blue," and vice versa for Republicans.
  • It's also worth noting that there are also nine precincts that ultimately leaned Republican but in which a Democrat won at least one of the statewide races. That shows even more "purple" and that voters aren't all choosing a straight party ticket.