BISMARCK — North Dakota will see no changes to primary election voting procedures for now, after the Senate on Friday voted against a bill that would have changed primary ballots.

North Dakota’s current primary ballots feature both Republican and Democrat primary races on the same ballot, but voters are only allowed to vote in one party’s primary election. If they vote in both, the ballot is spoiled.

Under

Senate Bill 2178,

North Dakotans would have needed to request a primary ballot from a specific political party. The ballot they received would only have had the primary races of that political party on it. The bill also proposed to keep track of which primary ballots voters requested, allowing political parties and candidates to better target their messaging to people who were likely to vote in their primary.

There were concerns raised in committee over the privacy issues this would create for voters by requiring them to ask for specific party ballots in front of friends and neighbors in their polling place.

The bill received a do-not-pass recommendation out of committee with a 6-0 vote.

Sen. Chuck Walen, R-New Town, said on the floor of the Senate Friday that the Senate State and Local Government Committee gave the bill a do-not-pass recommendation after testimony convinced members it would create an “undue burden” on polling places and could lead to more confusion with voters.

Walen was the primary sponsor of the bill, and accounted for one of the four votes in favor of it.

The bill was voted down in the Senate 42-4 with one legislator absent or abstaining.

FARGO — UND coach Paul Sather likened this year’s Fighting Hawks team to a scene from the 1994 movie Shawshank Redemption.

“Sometimes you have to crawl through a mile of you know what to get to the other side,” he said after UND’s 87-82 loss at North Dakota State on Saturday evening at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.

UND lost its sixth Summit League game this season, sitting at 2-6 through the first half of conference play.

The Hawks had numerous chances to take the lead against the Bison. Treysen Eaglestaff hit a 3-pointer to come within two points, 76-74, with under four minutes left in the game — just after Mier Panoam, who had 11 points in the loss, fouled out of the game.

Mambourou Mara fouled out with 1:05 left to play.

Dariyus Woodson hit a triple to cut NDSU’s lead to 83-81 with 14.5 seconds left.

Deng Mayar then fouled out, sending Tajavis Miller to the line. Miller extended the Bison’s lead back to four.

Eaglestaff missed a late three, but Amar Kuljuhovic was fouled.

Kuljuhovic went 1-for-2 from the line with four seconds left — UND was 21-for-35 from the free-throw line — and it was too late for the Hawks to answer.

“There were missed opportunities throughout for us,” Sather said. “They’re a very good team. They put you in defensive positions that are difficult, challenging. I thought our guys’ effort and energy was pretty good throughout the game. We had some lapses here and there. As far as how we wanted to guard them and how we wanted to play against them, I think it was the right way.”

The Bison improved to 16-6 and 5-2 in the Summit League, winning their last five straight.

For NDSU coach Dave Richman, free throws and defensive stops were the difference in the game.

“Treysen Eaglestaff is such a talented player, you put a lot of focus on a guy like that,” he said. “So all of a sudden you start getting spread out a little bit. We let them get downhill a lot, and we finally got some stops.”

Both teams shot 41% from the field, but 48 of the Bison’s 58 shot attempts came from 3-point range — a school record for most attempted threes.

UND went 9-for-29 (31%) from range, while NDSU was 16-for-48 (33%).

“I think we still might be taking threes out there right now,” Richman said.

NDSU was led by Jacksen Moni, who ended with a double-double (24 points, 10 rebounds). Jacari White added 20 points, and Miller had 17 points and seven boards.

Eli King grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the loss.

In the first half, Eaglestaff, who led UND with 22 points, missed back-to-back looks from three. UND assistant coach Jamie Stevens took Eaglestaff out of the game.

Eaglestaff started to take over in the second half, driving to the basket more in an effort to grab the win.

“I don’t usually get a lot of open looks like that, so I was just mad at myself,” he said. “So second half, I was just like, ‘OK, I don’t know why I care so much about if I get taken out or not. I’m a vet, just grow up and play basketball.’ That’s what I decided to do in the second half. It worked out pretty well.”

Sather still believes his team is talented enough on offense and is fighting to improve on defense. But he knows UND let some opportunities to take over the game slip away.

“God, you have to make some of the plays we didn’t make,” he said.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Jacksen Moni scored 24 points as North Dakota State beat North Dakota 87-82 on Saturday night.

Moni added 10 rebounds for the Bison (16-6, 5-2 Summit League). Jacari White shot 6 for 17 (4 for 13 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line to add 20 points. Tajavis Miller shot 5 for 9 (2 for 6 from 3-point range) and 5 of 9 from the free-throw line to finish with 17 points.

The Fightin’ Hawks (8-15, 2-6) were led in scoring by Treysen Eaglestaff, who finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. Amar Kuljuhovic added 12 points for North Dakota. Mier Panoam also recorded 11 points and two steals.

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.