Saturday 5 November 2011: Sioux Falls Straw Poll:
Herman Cain: 35%
Newt Gingrich: 23%
Mitt Romney: 20%
Rick Perry: 7%
Ron Paul: 5%
Michele Bachmann: 4%
Jon Huntsman: 3%
Rick Santorum: 3%

March 2012: The (circa 1 March) County National Delegate Selection Meetings elect delegates to the Regional Caucus which in turn elects delegates to the (circa 10 March) State National Convention Delegation Selection Meeting. There, slates pledged to each Presidential candidate are elected. The individual's position on the slate is determined by the number of votes received at the State National Convention Delegation Selection meeting.

National Convention Delegates will be chosen from these slates according to the vote at the Primary. For example, if a Presidential candidate wins 4 delegates in the June primary, the first 4 positions on that candidate's slate become National Convention delegates. [BYLAWS OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE Section VI. 10., 11., 14., 15.]

Tuesday 5 June 2012: 25 of South Dakota's 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention are allocated to presidential contenders based on the results of the voting in today's South Dakota Presidential Primary. [BYLAWS OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE SECTION VI. 4. to 7.]

• If at least one candidate receives 20% of the vote, compute the percentage of the vote received by each candidate meeting the 20% threshold: percentage = (candidate's vote) ÷ (vote total for all candidates meeting the 20% threshold).
• Rounding: Beginning with the candidate who received the most votes, multiply [the percentage of votes received] by [25 National Convention Delegates] and round any remainder up to the next whole number. Repeat for the next highest vote getter until all 25 delegates are allocated. [SECTION VI. 6. and 7.]
• In the event no slate receives at least 20% of the vote, the Republican State Executive Board shall allocate the delegates among the top four vote getters proportionally. [SECTION VI. 5.]

In addition, 3 party leaders, the National Committeeman, the National Committeewoman, and the chairman of the South Dakota's Republican Party, will attend the convention as unbound delegates by virtue of their position. (31 May 2012: The SD Republican Party informed us that the automatic delegates have decided to vote for the winner of the primary.)

Thursday 21 June 2012: State Central Committee Meeting.

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.