North Dakota
North Dakota Senate passes bill to standardize election laws, remove power from localities
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Senate passed a bill on Monday to standardize state election laws, removing some power from home rule counties and cities in the state.
House Bill 1307
would cement the supersession of state election law over local election laws, including local election laws in home rule counties and cities. Home rule counties or cities have adopted a home rule charter that gives them additional liberties in how they structure their local government, and enact and enforce laws — at times even superseding state laws inside their jurisdiction.
Under the bill, any election law adopted by a county or city that is in conflict with state election laws would be void.
The exception to this would be the number of signatures required for a candidate to make it on the ballot, according to the bill’s carrier Sen. Jose Castaneda, R-Minot. Home rule cities would still be able to independently set the number of signatures required for a candidate to make it on the ballot for local elections.
Castaneda said the goal of the bill was to standardize election laws in the state so localities cannot adopt rules that might get rid of mail-in ballots or early voting.
The Senate added an amendment to ensure park district elections were covered by the bill.
The bill has received pushback from North Dakota home rule cities and counties.
Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney submitted written testimony opposing the bill. He said creating election conformity across the state is a “laudable” goal, but an impractical one because of the various election procedures that North Dakota voters have already approved to “reflect the wishes” of home rule cities and counties.
The North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office has supported the bill. Officials submitted written testimony on the bill that said allowing cities and counties to adopt practices that may be in conflict with statewide election administration can create election integrity questions. This bill would prevent that.
The bill previously passed the House with a 79-13 vote, received a unanimous recommendation to pass from the Senate State and Local Government Committee and passed the Senate in a 45-2 vote. It now goes back to the House of Representatives for a vote of concurrence before it can be passed on to the governor.
North Dakota
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BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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