ND Initiative for Top-Four General Election System with RCV

Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this post.

Currently, North Dakota doesn’t have Party Registration, and already has an Open Primary. Any Voter is Free to Choose Any Party’s Primary Ballot. As of September 9th, 2019, North Dakota Officially Recognized the Democratic and Republican Parties for Ballot Access.

A North Dakota Initiative Petition was submitted to the North Dakota Secretary of State's Office on Friday, March 6th. It would establish a Top-Four single Ballot System for the Primary Election.

There would be No Party Nominees if this Initiative Passed, except for President, but the Initiative Backers did Not come up with Any New Method to define “political party”. Current Law says a Party remains on the Ballot if it Polls 5% for Governor, President, Secretary of State, or Attorney General. But under this Initiative, there would be No Qualification except President.

Secretary of State, Al Jaeger, said in a Release that his Office has Received the Proposal, which is the First step to possibly putting the Issue before the Voters as a Ballot Measure in the Nov. 3rd, 2020, General Election.

Jaeger's Office and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem's Office, will Review the Submission and must Issue a Petition Title no earlier than Friday, March 13th, and No later than Tuesday, March 17th.

North Dakota Voters First, a Fargo-based Group, is the Sponsoring Committee of the Proposal. The Group said there are Four Provisions in the Proposal that will Better serve North Dakota Voters.

- Require All Voting Machines to Produce a Paper Record of Every Vote Cast.

- Require Random Audits of Election Results.

- Allow North Dakota Military/Overseas Voters more Time to Cast their Ballots.

- Move the State to All Candidates Listed on a Single Primary Election Ballot. The Four Candidates who Receive the Most Votes then Advance to the Instant Runoff or Ranked-Choice Voting General Election, regardless of Party Affiliation. If No Candidate then Secures a Majority of the Vote in the General Election, the Instant Runoff or Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) will take place.

The Measure also Changes how Legislative Political Boundaries are Drawn. Instead of being Done at the Legislature, Political District Maps would be Done by the North Dakota Ethics Commission, a Citizen-led Group.

“This measure will strengthen election security, increase voter choice, and prevent voting districts from being drawn by politicians for their benefit’’ said Lois Altenburg, a Spokesperson for North Dakota Voters First.

The Committee said it Expects to begin Collecting the 26,904 Signatures needed to Place the Item on the November Ballot once the Secretary of State's Office Completes its Review.










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