North Dakota Senate votes down change to primary election ballots

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.