New Economic Frontier, which is behind the push to legalize marijuana in North Dakota, said on Tuesday that the campaign had gathered enough signatures to place the initiative on the November ballot, reported Marijuana Moment.

The deadline to submit the signatures to the state is Monday, July 8.

“After months of hard work and incredible community support, we are ready to submit our collected signatures at the North Dakota State Capitol,” New Economic Frontier said in an email on Tuesday.

Chairperson Steve Bakken, a Burleigh County commissioner and former mayor of Bismarck, said last week that the signatures have been self-validated so far.

“Once we know the bill is going to be on the ballot, then it turns into opportunities to talk about what cannabis can do for North Dakota from a judicial and law enforcement perspective,” Bakken said, according to Minot Daily News. “There’s a lot of different layers on this, and giving the public the information to make their own decision as a voter is vitally important.”

Read Also: North Dakota Hospice Patients To Self-Certify For Medical Marijuana As Governor Signs Bill

Campaign organizers said in June that the initiative was on the verge of hitting the goal. “With 15,179 signatures collected so far, we are nearing our goal of 15,582 required signatures,” representing 2% of the state’s population, the campaign announced in a press release.

However, a new poll showed most North Dakota voters don’t want legal marijuana. More precisely, 57% of those asked said they oppose the recreational cannabis reform, while 43% are in favor, according to a survey of 500 likely voters completed by Opinion Strategies on behalf of the Brighter Future Alliance.

Under the measure, personal recreational marijuana use at home would be legal for adults over 21. The measure also proposes setting up a regulatory framework for the production and processing of cannabis as well as prohibited uses.

Bakken explained that the group behind the legalization campaign want to avoid “the Wild West” other states have experienced after enactment of similar laws, nor does it seek an “unfettered recreational law in North Dakota. It’s very important to us that the state can regulate it, have oversight, license it, tax it how they see fit.”

Previous efforts in 2018 and 2022 to legalize recreational cannabis in North Dakota failed.

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FARGO — On Sunday, June 30, a silver alert was issued for 84-year-old Alpha “Al” Ault who went missing in Morton County. The man was safely located near Huff Hills.

“When somebody’s missing, we always utilize the same amount of resources. So an aircraft, a bloodhound who is trained to track people, a lot of law enforcement agencies, volunteer organizations,” said North Dakota Highway Patrol Sergeant Jenna Clawson Huibregtse.

Huibregtse says it doesn’t matter if you’re qualified or not to search. It matters when you pay attention to what the alert says.

“Look at the clothing description, what that person might be driving and be the eyes and ears for us out there,” Huibregtse said. “Because the public is across the whole state, and we are just, you know, in a few select areas as law enforcement officers.”

She says almost every missing person is found by a community member before police, especially in rural parts of North Dakota.

“We’re typically finding people within five or 10 minutes, somebody gets the alert on their phone and they’re right in the right place at the right time,” Huibregtse said.

If you’re that person who finds an elder that may be at risk of wandering, the Alzheimer’s Association urges you to approach them calmly, then call police.

“Just ask them, you know, ‘Are you doing OK? It looks to me that you may be lost. Can I help you?’ And then ask them their name, ask them where they’re coming from,” said Alzheimer’s Association North Dakota Program Director Joan Danks.

With that information, Danks says you’ll be to help keep that elder safe until police arrive.

“Six in 10 people living with dementia will wander at least once, and many people do so repeatedly,” Danks said. “So it’s very common, and it can also be very dangerous — even sometimes life threatening. And that stress of this risk really does weigh heavily on caregivers and family members.”

They say it’s never too late to report a missing person if you find them.

If you’re a caregiver or family member looking for help to reduce the risk of wandering, you can enroll into the

Alzheimer’s Association’s wandering response service online for free.

My name is Anne Sara, better known as Sara.
I was born an only child in Port-au-prince, Haiti and moved to the U.S at the age of 2.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is where I was raised.
After graduating with my bachelor degree at Albright College, I moved to Florida to continue my studies.
WDAY is the reason why I moved to North Dakota.

The North Dakota Ethics Commission has seen a rise in campaign-related complaints but lacks tools to address the allegations, Executive Director Rebecca Binstock said.

Commissioners are considering adopting a new set of rules so the board has more authority to investigate the complaints.

As of late June, 23 complaints had been filed with the commission since the beginning of the year. Of those, 10 related to campaigns, Binstock said. The commission received 17 complaints in all of 2023 and 14 in 2022. In both 2023 and 2022, two complaints each year related to campaigns. Generally, ethics complaints are confidential unless the commission determines them to be substantiated and the accused has the ability to appeal.

“We’ve also received, I want to call it anecdotal information, from the public, from state agencies, state employees as well as elected officials that this particular election cycle is different,” Binstock told commissioners during a Wednesday meeting. “That anecdotal evidence aligns with what we see in real time with the complaints that have come in.”

Secretary of State Michael Howe said his office has received reports of alleged improper campaign finance disclosures on materials like signs and fliers, though he’s not sure if there’s been more this election cycle compared to previous years. The Secretary of State’s Office does not enforce compliance with campaign laws.

“We say, ‘Well, there is a requirement of that North Dakota Century Code,’” Howe said. “‘If you feel the law has been broken, you need to reach out to the state’s attorney in the county where you think this crime has been committed.’”

Recently, there have been allegations of campaign fraud in North Dakota submitted to federal authorities.

Julie Fedorchak’s campaign earlier this month filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and Federal Communications Commission after text messages were sent en masse to North Dakotans the day of the primary falsely claiming she had dropped out of the U.S. House race.

A North Dakota resident in May filed an FEC complaint against Rep. Brandon Prichard, R-Bismarck, claiming he may have engaged in campaign finance activity that violates federal election law. Prichard has denied wrongdoing. The status of the complaint is not public.

The 2018 constitutional amendment that created the Ethics Commission allows the board to adopt rules related to elections, lobbying, corruption and transparency to enforce ethical behavior by state officials.

Under the constitution, the Ethics Commission can investigate alleged violations of its own rules, the constitutional amendment or “related state laws.”

Its ability to investigate campaign complaints is still very limited, however. For one, the commission has yet to adopt any rules on campaign ethics.

North Dakota does have statutes relating to campaign ethics — most of which impose misdemeanor penalties — which could fit the definition of “related state laws” under the constitutional amendment. However, because the commission does not have prosecution authority, it cannot investigate alleged violations of criminal law, Binstock said.

There are other ways to address complaints, though. The Ethics Commission may work with the complainant and the accused to resolve the complaint informally, for example.

Additionally, if a complaint accuses someone of a criminal violation, the Ethics Commission is required by law to forward the allegation to a state’s attorney.

State’s attorneys have discretion over whether or not to charge someone with a crime. Binstock noted during the meeting that when an ethics-related allegation crosses the desk of a state prosecutor, chances are they’re already dealing with a heavy caseload.

A letter dated May 10 provided to the North Dakota Monitor indicates that Binstock referred a complaint about a legislative race to Burleigh County State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer. The prosecutor has not responded to requests for comment and Binstock is unable to comment on specific complaints.

If a prosecutor declines to bring charges related to an ethics complaint, the case is handed back to the commission. But again, since the commission has neither prosecution authority nor any rules pertaining to elections, its staff may be unable to investigate the complaint.

“If the Ethics Commission doesn’t have a corresponding ethics rule, we’re left with a criminal statute that the Ethics Commission can’t investigate under,” Binstock said.

The commission during the meeting gave staff the greenlight to draft election rules. The draft rules will likely go before the commission for consideration sometime in the next few months, Binstock said.

In 2018, Burleigh County prosecutors charged Bismarck legislative candidate Duane Sand with a misdemeanor that alleged he misstated opponent George Keiser’s voting record in a campaign ad. The charge, publication of false information in political advertisements, was prompted by a police report Keiser filed and a finding from a prosecutor that the act fit the elements of the crime, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

Sand later filed police reports accusing Keiser and others of breaking the same law. The charge against Sand was dismissed after all involved reached a private settlement and agreed to stop pursuing the complaints.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com