An ever-widening rift within the South Dakota Republican Party has county-level activists alleging party leaders of willful rules violations intended to dampen their influence in the GOP.

South Dakota Republican officials later this month will vote on the party’s next state chairman and a rule change that would have major implications on the future of GOP politics in South Dakota.

And who’ll get to cast those consequential votes has GOP in-fighting from Lawrence County to Lincoln County and Yankton County to Brown County reaching fervor ahead of the Jan. 14 meeting in Pierre.

NEWS: These issues were news in 2022. They'll be news in 2023