Saturday 10 March 2012: Legislative District Caucuses meet in each of the state's 35 Legislative Districts to elect delegates to the Congressional District Caucus.

Saturday 24 March 2012: The Congressional District caucus meets in Pierre to slate National Convention Congressional District delegates, for each Presidential Preference and Uncommitted, to appear on the primary ballot.

Participation in South Dakota's delegate selection process is open to all voters who wish to participate as Democrats. A person shall register their Democratic Party affiliation with the secretary of state on or prior to the last day to register to vote in the June 2012 State Primary Election, or affirm their affiliation with the Democratic Party before public notary to be eligible to participate in the delegate selection process.

Tuesday 5 June 2012: 22 of 29 delegates to the Democratic National Convention are pledged to presidential contenders based on the primary results statewide as South Dakota has only a single at-large congressional seat. A mandatory 15 percent threshold is required in order for a presidential contender to be pledged National Convention delegates at either the congressional district or statewide level.

• 15 district delegates are to be pledged proportionally to presidential contenders based on the primary results in the State's single at-large congressional district.
• In addition, 7 delegates are to be pledged to presidential contenders based on the primary vote statewide.
  • 5 at-large National Convention delegates
  • 2 Pledged PLEOs

Since the Democratic Primary was uncontested, no election was held.

Saturday 16 June 2012: State Convention / State Party Central Committee

National Convention Pledged PLEO and At-Large delegates are elected according to the results of the primary.

The remaining 7 National Convention delegates consist of

• 7 Unpledged PLEO delegates:
• 5 Democratic National Committee members.
• 1 Member of Congress (1 Senator and 0 Representatives).
• 0 Governors.
• 1 Distinguished Party Leader (former Senate Majority Leader Thomas Andrew "Tom" Daschle).

These 7 delegates and will go to the Democratic National Convention officially "Unpledged".

Notes:

HB 1272, which would move the Presidential Primary from the last Tuesday in June to the last Tuesday in January failed in the South Dakota House of Representatives on 7 and 8 February 2007.