North Dakota
Before the real voting, there’s the trial run • North Dakota Monitor
Bob Henderson, the director of information technology in Cass County, called it one of the most important but most tedious parts of election preparation — testing the machines that tabulate the votes.
Before voting begins, the vote tabulators are fed a “test deck” — a group of ballots that is filled out before the election to make sure machines get the correct vote total.
Similar tests are done in every county across the state before the machines are used.
The North Dakota Monitor observed the public demonstrations Cass and Burleigh counties did of voting equipment leading up to the election.
“It went as it should go,” Mark Splonskowski, auditor-treasurer for Burleigh County, said of the test. “It counted it correctly and then we zeroed it out and made sure it was at zero when we were done.”
Henderson and other Cass County election officials demonstrated how the voting machines work and answered questions about the election process on Oct. 25 at a Fargo warehouse where the county stores its election equipment.
Nathan Hansen, who works in the county’s finance office, fed ballots into the machine by hand, just as a voter would, unless a voter asks for help from an election official. Some of the ballots are intentionally mismarked, such as voting for two candidates in the presidential race, to make sure the machine flags those kinds of mistakes for voters so they can get a new ballot to fix the mistake if they want to.
The machine will also flag races that are skipped or where the voter does not vote for the maximum number of candidates, such as voting for only one candidate for state House of Representatives when voters can select two.
Voting already has been taking place for weeks in North Dakota by absentee or mail-in voting and early in-person voting.
Cass County, North Dakota’s most populous county, runs more than 500 ballots through each of the more than 60 voting tabulators before they are given the stamp of approval.
The number of test ballots is determined by the number of contests. A county or precinct with fewer races will have fewer scenarios to test for.
During the Burleigh County test, Splonskowski demonstrated how the machine won’t allow multiple ballots to be inserted at the same time. He added the height and width specifications of the ballots must match the requirements of the machine.
Rep. Karen Karls, R-Bismarck, chair of NDGOP District 35, also viewed the Burleigh County election equipment test.
“It seems pretty straightforward,” Karls said of this year’s test.
She said she comes to the test every election cycle because some of her voters have concerns about election security.
“There are election deniers out there, and so I ask the questions and hopefully get the answers that take care of the problem,” Karls said.
Splonkowski said election officials and state lawmakers have tried to get ahead of election integrity questions.
“What I want is an informed electorate,” Splonskowski said. “I want informed legislators, so they know how the process works, so that they can understand it better. If there are to be improvements made, you can’t make improvements unless you already know how it works.”
All ballots cast in North Dakota are paper ballots, whether filled in manually or with a touchscreen. Henderson calls the touchscreen “a digital pencil” that transfers the voter’s choices to a paper ballot. The voter can review that ballot before submitting.
Henderson emphasized that neither the touch screen nor the vote tabulators are connected to the internet. Flash drives or “data sticks” are used to physically take results from the machine to the auditor’s office, but the paper ballots are put into sealed containers for potential verification.
Cody Schuler, advocacy manager of the American Civil Liberties Union in North Dakota, observed the Cass County demonstration.
The ACLU is among the groups that monitor voting sites and take reports of irregularities. The ACLU partners with the League of Women Voters on voter access issues.
“If folks feel their rights are being violated, or if there are long lines and want to report things that might be hindering people’s accessibility to the polls, those are the kind of things that people need to self-advocate for, but the ACLU and our partner organizations across the nation do that and we’re active here in North Dakota,” Schuler said.
Voters also can report issues to either of those groups, the county or to the secretary of state.
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North Dakota
Williston man hits off-road motorcycle in fatal crash
WILLISTON, N.D. — A 20-year-old Montana man was killed after a North Dakota man — who is accused of driving drunk — hit the off-road motorcycle he was driving.
According to the North Dakota Highway Patrol, the crash happened just after 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1 at the intersection of Second Avenue West and Second Street West in Williston, North Dakota.
The Poplar, Montana, man was driving a 2020 Yamaha off-road motorcycle west on Second Street when 46-year-old Maverick Stanton of Williston attempted to make a turn onto Second Avenue West. Stranton, who was driving a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500, failed to yield and struck the motorcycle, the patrol said.
The Montana man was taken to Trinity Hospital in Minot, North Dakota, where he died.
Stranton was not injured. He was arrested for driving under the influence.
The name of the Montana man has not yet been released. The highway patrol said the roads were clear and it was sunny at the time of the crash.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
North Dakota
Who is Grey Zabel? What to know about North Dakota State football lineman after Senior Bowl
Grey Zabel might be the perfect player to prove the case for the Senior Bowl.
The former North Dakota State football offensive lineman has made a name for himself this week in practices and at the Senior Bowl game itself on Saturday. For his strong week at practices in Mobile, Alabama, Zabel was named the Senior Bowl Overall Practice Player of the Week in a poll by 32 NFL executives.
Zabel has worked into the conversation of being a late first-round pick following an intense week in front of NFL scouts and personnel.
Here’s what you need to know about Zabel, including his college recruitment:
Who is Grey Zabel?
Zabel measured at 6-foot-5, 316 pounds at the Senior Bowl. He appeared in 62 games during his career with the Bison, including starting at left tackle in his final season. He has proven he can play everywhere, as he also made starts at left guard, right tackle and right guard during his career.
During the Senior Bowl, Zabel played guard and got in a drive at center, further proving his positional versatility for the next level. Zabel graduated from NDSU with a major in agribusiness and a minor in economics and precision agriculture.
Zabel earned First-Team FCS All-American this season at tackle for the Bison, but being able to show his ability to play around the offensive line and the ability he creates with his hands and feet has earned him high praise from NFL draft analysts.
“From start-to-finish, Grey Zabel dominated the week,” ESPN analyst Field Yates wrote on social media. “He was outstanding in 1-on-1s at both guard spots and center. His hands and feet were always in sync and he finished with an edge. Leaving this week, Zabel felt like a guy who will hear his name called late in Round 1.”
Grey Zabel recruitment
- Star rating: 0 stars
- National ranking: No ranking
- Positional ranking: No ranking
- State ranking: No ranking
According to 247Sports’ Composite rankings, Zabel was unranked in the 2020 recruiting class out of T.F. Riggs High School in Pierre, South Dakota. Zabel also held offers from South Dakota and South Dakota State but committed to the Bison on July 16, 2019. He finished his high school career with 84 tackles, 25 t tackles for loss and 14 sacks.
North Dakota
Former Grand Forks lawmaker Corey Mock says appointment to Governor’s Cabinet was 'totally unexpected'
GRAND FORKS — No one may have been more surprised than Corey Mock when new North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong asked him to join the administration as the state’s chief information officer.
Mock, who for years served Grand Forks as a lawmaker representing the Democratic Party, is one of 12 Cabinet members the incoming Republican governor announced shortly after the November election.
Armstrong’s invitation to serve “was totally unexpected,” Mock said, noting that it came after his “difficult” decision in early 2024 to not seek a fifth term in the Legislature.
The appointment apparently raised eyebrows in some strongly partisan sectors, but Mock said he has gotten nothing but favorable responses.
“I’ve only received messages of congratulations, and that’s from Republicans, Democrats and independents alike. It’s been quite evident that everyone agrees this is a nonpartisan office — there are no Republican and Democratic computers.”
Regarding his appointment, “I never thought of the political side of it until after I’d read one of the first articles,” said Mock, who served on the state’s Information Technology Committee for 16 years in the Legislature. “To me, this has never been a partisan position.”
From his perspective, political ideology is the “last (consideration) in this role — or any role, really,” he said.
“I’m an institutionalist, and proud of it. If anything, during my time in the Legislature, I became known for being stubbornly independent and focused on solving underlying problems, versus being a champion for a specific solution.”
As head of NDIT, Mock said his top priorities will be to ensure that, as an agency, “we continue to provide exceptional service.”
Mock, who served from 2008 to 2024 in the North Dakota Legislature — eight years representing District 42 and eight years representing District 18 — is obviously proud of the strides NDIT has made.
“We are the most connected state in terms of broadband access in the country,” he said. “It is an incredible accomplishment that’s taken decades of hard work and something that we should all be proud of.”
Among the most pressing challenges NDIT faces are issues related to cybersecurity, Mock said.
“We are one of the leaders in having a whole-of-government cybersecurity protection. You never want to need it, but when there is an incident, it’s so helpful having consolidated expertise that can step in and assist really every level of government.
“And technology is rapidly changing,” he said. “Looking at this session, we’ve got AI (artificial intelligence). … We know that there’s going to be some investments needed in AI — and waiting two years is probably not an option.”
Former Gov. Doug Burgum earmarked $15 million in the budget for AI-related grants, said Mock, who, in addition to his legislative experience, has built a career as a Realtor and leadership consultant.
He sees NDIT’s role as “not just helping with the technical questions, but that we’re anticipating future needs,” he said, “and making sure that, as we bring new technology in and we start making some investments and improvements, that we’re doing it strategically …”
During the summer and early fall, Mock reached out to colleagues, including appropriations committee chairpersons, returning legislators and both gubernatorial candidates, offering his help with any of the larger budgets he had worked on. He took this action “recognizing that we’re going to have some turnover – if there was anything I could do to help him or his team in the transition to get brought up to speed on where the Legislature had been. …
“From my perspective, that’s how a lot of this began — just offering to be a resource to him and his transition team as they were heading into the legislative session,” Mock said.
In a conversation in mid-November, Armstrong asked about Mock’s plans after his term ended “and quickly pivoted to, ‘I want you to run IT for me,’” Mock recalled. “It was totally unexpected — a true, I’d say, stunning response. It kind of set me back on my heels a bit, not even thinking that was even in the cards.”
After mulling it over for a few days, “I called him back and said, ‘I don’t have a compelling reason to say no. I serve at the pleasure of the governor; if you want me to join your team, I would be honored.’”
The appointment “speaks so highly of Kelly Armstrong wanting to build the right team,” Mock said. “Kelly puts his trust in his team (and) wants to put the right people in the job and let them do their job.”
“I think it’s heartening to see an elected official on a party ballot, so someone who represents a major political party, to look past the labels and to put people on his team that he knows and trusts regardless of their own political affiliation,” he said.
The origin of North Dakota Information Technology can be traced to 1969, he said, when it – as Central Processing — was part of the Office of Management and Budget, Mock said. In 1999, as the result of an interim legislative study, it became a separate agency — and, with that, a chief information office position was created.
Mock, the state’s ninth chief information officer since 1999, said he expects to be “out in the public and working with our team members and our agency clients as frequently as possible. I think that’s going to help us better understand what we can do to help improve state government and make sure that we’re using our resources efficiently and effectively.”
He intends to gain a first-hand understanding of how the workflow operates, he said.
As for the possibility of moving his family to Bismarck — the Mocks have three young children — that is something the couple will consider after the legislative session ends in the spring, he said.
He and his wife will make the decision, Mock said, based on “what makes the most sense for them — and for us.”
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