Dan Ahlers is a South Dakota business owner and Democratic politician from Dell Rapids. He served in both chambers of the state Legislature and later led the South Dakota Democratic Party. He has been president of the Dell Rapids Chamber of Commerce, the Dell Rapids Community Fund and the Haven Before and After School Program. He is the Democratic candidate for governor in 2026.
Role at the time: South Dakota Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Mixed or conditional
Statement summary
Ahlers said communities should decide whether readers are installed in their neighborhoods.
“I think people in their communities should have a say in whether or not they want these in their neighborhoods,”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Ahlers supports community decisions on readersOpening Ahlers quotation, attributed to September 17 forum
Why we used this label
Relative to continued networked reader use, Ahlers makes deployment subject to community choice. This is a general local-control position, rather than a statewide prohibition.
Networked automated license-plate cameras can assemble searchable records of vehicle movements. Candidates and officials disagree over whether to ban the systems, keep them with limits, or defend them as investigative tools. This tracker separates outright bans from narrower restrictions.
