BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota election officials who implemented a new deadline for mail-in ballots for the June primary reported no major issues, which many attributed to robust voter education efforts.
The State Canvassing Board met Wednesday to certify the results of the June 9 primary. It was the first election since the passage of a new state law requiring absentee ballots to be received by the time polls close on Election Day. Previously, ballots postmarked the day before Election Day could still be counted if they were received up to 13 days after the election.
Secretary of State Michael Howe said counties are not required to track how many late absentee ballots would have been approved under the previous law.
“I don’t know if we’ll have a definitive number,” Howe said. “Most of that will be anecdotal.”
Four county canvassing boards contacted by the North Dakota Monitor said late ballots were down compared to previous elections.
Stutsman County had zero mail-in ballots arrive after Election Day, which auditor Jessica Alonge attributed to the county’s voter outreach. County officials called residents who applied for an absentee ballot in late May or early June to make sure they knew about the new deadline.
“It’s very telling that not one ballot came in the mail after Election Day,” Alonge said.
Burleigh County received 37 absentee ballots after Election Day, which is lower than previous mid-term primaries, said election coordinator Thomas Larson. Members of the Burleigh County Auditor’s Office went to the U.S. Postal Service distribution site in Bismarck right before 7 p.m. on election night to ensure the post office wasn’t holding onto any ballots, he said.
Ten of the late ballots were postmarked by June 8, and those votes would have counted under the previous deadline, Larson said.
Stark County received seven absentee ballots after Election Day, said auditor and treasurer Karen Richard. Two of those ballots were postmarked by June 8 and would have counted under the old law, she said.
Cass County received fewer than 20 mail-in ballots after Election Day, said Sarah Heinle, finance director and member of the county canvassing board. She said county election officials didn’t check the postmarks of the late ballots because they are not required to by state law.
Howe said his office tried to educate absentee voters as much as it could on the new state law. The outreach included media interviews, multiple social media posts and ballot packets sent to voters that included the new deadline.
The Secretary of State’s website also had an online ballot tracker to help people monitor their mail-in ballots.
Kathy Tweeten, president of the League of Women Voters of North Dakota, said she believes Howe’s office did its best to educate voters about the new deadline.
“I don’t know if the secretary of state could do any more,” Tweeten said. “I saw several times where they talked about it.”
The League of Women Voters opposed the law change, viewing it as an unnecessary barrier. Tweeten said even one voter missing out on their right to vote due to a state law change is too many.
“Those 10 people would’ve had the opportunity to vote,” said Tweeten, referring to the late ballots in Burleigh County that were postmarked ahead of the June primary. “Under the new rules, they were denied their perfect right to vote, and that is a problem.”
Howe said additional voter education will be conducted ahead of the November general election to make people aware of the deadline.
“It is unfortunate that some were not accepted, and of course we want everyone who wants to vote to be able to do so,” Howe said.
Lawmakers approved the change to state law to mirror an executive order by President Donald Trump that forbids states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
North Dakota added 124 votes to its statewide primary election results Wednesday, bringing its total to 125,225 ballots cast, after the State Canvassing Board certified the results from each county. The added votes increased the statewide voter turnout for the primary to 20.86%.
During the primary, 39,644 absentee ballots were requested by voters and 34,756 were returned to county election officials, a return rate of 88%, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. More than 17,000 North Dakota voters took part in early in-person voting across eight counties, the office said.
The board verified that no statewide or legislative races met the threshold of an automatic or candidate demand recount.
Fargo Republican advances
Write-in votes for candidates are not tallied on election night and require election officials to manually count each written name.
Republican state House candidate Doug Sharbono of Fargo received 199 write-in votes during the primary for District 11, enough to advance to the general election. He had filed paperwork to run as a certified write-in candidate.
Democratic-NPL party House candidate Anastassiya Andrianova also advances to the general election. The other Democrat in that race, Rep. Liz Conmy, died in an April plane crash and it was too late to remove her name from the ballot.
Members of the Dem-NPL Party have requested an attorney general opinion clarifying if the party is allowed to replace Conmy with another Dem-NPL candidate for the general election.
Adam Goldwyn, chair of the Dem-NPL Party, was appointed to represent District 11 during the interim, but ruled out running for the office in November.
It’s still possible for additional candidates to file to run as an independent in the November election. The filing deadline for independent candidates is Aug. 31.
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