This is to notify the public that a quorum of County Commissioners may attend a Gubernatorial and US Senate and House candidate Meet and Greet BBQ on May 2nd, 2026, from 12:00p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the American Legion Post 71, 1045 Jennings Ave, Hot Springs, SD.
Dated this 17th day of April 2
/S/ Sue Ganje
Sue Ganje
Fall River County Auditor
First, be aware that failure to control or report dangerous fire is a Class 1 Misdemeanor while Reckless burning or exploding is a Class 4 felony. These charges can be applied when fire or explosions are endangering life or a substantial amount of property. You may also be held financially responsible for any fire suppression costs if a fire becomes out of control.
SDCL 22-33-9.4. Failure to control or report dangerous fire–Misdemeanor.
SDCL 22-33-9.3. Reckless burning or exploding–Felony.
In Fall River County the Black Hills Fire Protection District is land NORTH of the Cheyenne River and WEST of SD Highway 79. This area is defined by South Dakota Codified Law 34-35-15.
Burning within the Black Hills Fire Protection District is governed by the rules in Administrative Rule chapter 61:33:01.
The dark gray area on the map below is the Black Hills Fire Protection District within Fall River County. Currently there are no fires allowed in this area outside of commercial campgrounds. See administrative rule 61:33:01:07 for campfire regulations for commercial campgrounds.
Fall River County has no burn ban. Resident within city limits or the Black Hills Fire Protection District must follow those burn regulations. Regardless of area, remember you are still responsible under State Law if that fire gets out of control.
Campfires are allowed only in designated campgrounds.
Check with specific campgrounds for further restrictions.
The City of Hot Springs requires that fires be confined to properly constructed fire pits or fireplaces. These are further restricted to propane fueled only when a Red Flag Warning is in effect. (For full list of fire rules and restrictions, as well as fire pit construction requirements, see Chapter 93 of the City of Hot Springs Ordinances.)
Edgemont passed a fire ban on April 7th 2026. The ban is in place anytime the fire index is MODERATE, HIGH, VERY HIGH or EXTREME. (As published by the Rapid City National Weather Service.) See post from City of Edgemont for full information.
**Note that there are no Democratic races therefore there are non-political ballots for those registered as Democrat, Independent, Libertarian or No Party that live in Hot Springs Ward 1, Ward 2 and Ward 4 and that live in the Hot Springs School District 23-2. There are Republican ballots available for all precincts, but note that only Republicans can vote on a Republican ballot.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 04.15.2026
Contact:
Sue Ganje
Fall River County Auditor
605-745-5130
[email protected]
Absentee Ballots Not Available at Start of Voting Period for June 2 Primary
Fall River County, SD — The Fall River County Auditor’s Office is notifying voters that absentee ballots for the upcoming June 2 Primary Election will not be available on the first day of the absentee voting period.
Under South Dakota law, absentee voting is scheduled to begin 46 days prior to an election pursuant to SDCL 12-19-1.2. However, the candidate petition filing deadline was March 31, as established in SDCL 12-6-4, which determines the final list of candidates to appear on the ballot.
Because ballots cannot be finalized until after the petition filing deadline has passed and candidate eligibility is confirmed, additional time is required for ballot preparation, including certification, layout, programming, proofing,
and printing.
This statutory timing results in a brief delay between the start of the absentee voting period and the availability of ballots.
The Auditor’s Office is working diligently to complete this process as quickly as possible. Once ballots are
available:
Absentee ballots will be mailed immediately to voters who have submitted applications
In-person absentee voting will begin at the Auditor’s Office
Updates will be shared through the county website, local media, and official communication channels
“This delay is a function of state law timelines that require final candidate filings before ballots can be prepared,” said Sue Ganje, Fall River County Auditor. “Our office is committed to ensuring ballots are accurate and available as soon as possible.”
Voters are encouraged to:
Submit absentee ballot applications early
Verify voter registration information
Monitor official county communications for updates
The deadline to request an absentee ballot remains 5:00 p.m. the day before the election, pursuant to SDCL 12-19-2.
Fall River County has switched to a new alert system. County emergency alerts will now be sent out using the Everbridge system instead of CodeRED. A link to sign up for Everbridge is located on the Fall River County website homepage.
This system enables us to provide you with critical information quickly in a variety of situations, such as wildfire evacuations, severe weather, unexpected road closures, flooding, and public safety power shutoffs.
You choose how you receive messages, such as your home, mobile or business phones, email address, text messages and more. You also choose the locations you want alerts for such as your home, business, a family member’s home, or your storage unit. You pick where, you pick how.
I signed up for CodeRED prior to March 2025 |
I signed up for CodeRED during or after March 2025 |
| If you signed up for CodeRED prior to March 2025 then your registered contact information was transferred to Everbridge. We would still encourage you to sign up with the new Everbridge system for two reasons. 1. There is not a way for you to log-in and change your contact information that was transferred from CodeRED. 2. Any weather alerts you signed up for did not transfer over from CodeRED. (If you have the mobile app you may still get weather alerts there.) If I do this, won’t I end up signed up twice? We check the new Everbridge registrations. When one is a duplicate of a CodeRED transfer we delete the old CodeRED information. |
| If you signed up for CodeRED during or after March 2025 your registration was not part of the system backup from the CodeRED data breach. This means your contact information was lost, and you are not currently signed up for alerts. Please register with Everbridge. |
Other Questions:
What about the CodeRED data breach? What information was stolen? According to the final report we received from CodeRED, while the attack on their system corrupted much of the data in their database there was little evidence of the data being extracted.
What about the CodeRED mobile app? The old CodeRED app does not appear to be working since the data breach happened. We would recommend removing it from your phone.
Does Everbridge have an app? Yes, search for ‘Public Safety by Everbridge’ in the Google Play or App store. This is also the same app used the by the City of Hot Springs Police Department. So if you already have that app just add Fall River County as another of your organizations.
