I entered March of 2020 as a student finishing up his freshman year at the University of South Dakota, with no idea for what my path forward would contain for me. I sit here writing this in July of 2021 as the President of the Young Democrats of South Dakota, President of the USD Political Science League, a member of the South Dakota Democratic Party Executive Board, the Director of Communications for the SGA Student Government Association, and many more opportunities that I would not have had the chance to hold if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. As a low-income student, the opportunity to pursue higher education at all is something I am eternally grateful for. I graduated high school with a 2.3 GPA after taking a huge hit to my grades as a sophomore and junior in high school due to issues relating to an emotionally abusive relationship, issues with my family, and drug dependency. I exited that abusive relationship as a senior in high school and worked as hard as I could to find a way into college. The University of South Dakota took me in. At USD I found the first group of friends who truly loved me. I felt more at home in a 20x8 dorm room with mind-melting white brick walls than I ever had in high school. Needless to say, I shed quite a few tears when receiving the email letting us know that we would not be returning from Spring Break. I was also coming to terms with the loss of a former dream of mine. Just weeks prior, I'd been told that I was selected to be a Washington D.C. Intern on Capitol Hill—this opportunity was something I'd only ever dreamed of. I knew that the email cancelling my on-campus experience was only one of many cancellations to come; my Washington D.C. internship included. I didn't know it at the time but this cancellation was the best thing that ever happened to me. While stuck in my hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I ended up being lucky enough to land a gig as an intern at the South Dakota Democratic Party. I got to meet more people remotely through the COVID-induced popularization of Zoom than I ever would have in a normal year and learn more about digital campaigning than I could have ever expected. These Zoom calls opened up the world of South Dakota Democratic politics for me. This internship allowed me to develop skills and connections that would make me a valuable asset for campaigns in my area, and I ended up working with an incredible candidate named Ailee Johns back in my college town. Ailee and I's friendship would not have happened if not for COVID-19, but I'm so very grateful that it did. With her help I founded and led USD's first voter registration initiative, increasing the amount of newly registered voters in Clay County by more than 75% compared with 2016. This experience slowly turned into the SDVote! initiative, a plan that I proposed to the Young Democrats of South Dakota in January of 2021 which has now grown into a core part of the South Dakota Democratic Party's strategic plan. This initiative allowed me to take my chances and run for president of the Young Democrats of South Dakota. I'm happy to say I won. Without these COVID-caused events, I wouldn't be where I am today. The pandemic changed my world. The pandemic caused so much pain for so many people; I am forever grateful for having had a positive light within it.

I am a rural Democrat living in Vermillion, South Dakota. I work in the political field on a daily basis and have fought for a number of Democrats on local and state levels. Because of this experience I've seen with my very own eyes the effects of Gerrymandering. Despite 27% of South Dakota's registered voters being registered as Democrats and roughly 23% being registered as independents, Democrats hold only 10.1% of seats in the state legislature—and Independents hold 0%. South Dakota—like many states—allows the legislature to draw its own districts, allowing legislators to pick their voters. This leads to a variety of individuals sitting in legislative seats who do not represent South Dakotan voters they are elected to serve. These disproportionate Republican and conservative influences on South Dakota can be seen most visibly in South Dakota's ballot initiative process. South Dakota is widely seen as a hyper-conservative "Ruby Red" state, and the legislature reflects that fact. Governor Noem and her party's legislators have year after year fought against issues like marijuana legalization & medicaid expansion, even though these are widely supported by the public and have been proven so at the ballot box. This disproportionate control on the legislature is unhealthy for a functioning Democracy and fights directly against the wills of the public who elect them. That's why I'm working with the South Dakota League of Women Voters to petition for a ballot initiative to establish a nonpartisan independent redistricting commission, rather than allowing the legislature to choose their voters. This has worked in many other states, and it can work here. This is only one step in the path towards electoral equity, but it's an important one at that. Electoral equity drives my education, and I'll be fighting for it on and off the ballot.