North Dakota
Signatures submitted for congressional age limits ballot measure in North Dakota | Nebraska Examiner
Organizers behind a petition to establish an age limit for North Dakota’s congressional delegates submitted thousands of signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, narrowly clearing the Feb. 12 filing deadline to have the measure on the primary election ballot in June.
The measure, if passed by voters, would create a constitutional amendment prohibiting North Dakotans from being elected or appointed to Congress if they would reach their 81st birthday before the end of their term.
The Secretary of State’s Office has 35 calendar days to process the filing. It’ll take roughly 31,000 valid signatures from North Dakota voters in order for the amendment to be on the ballot.
Jared Hendrix, leading the charge for the proposal, said his group collected nearly 42,000 signatures in all. Hendrix, chair of Retire Congress North Dakota, said six or seven months of work went into gathering the petitions.
Hendrix and other boosters of the proposed amendment say the cap is necessary in order to make sure members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation are fit for the job. He said national polls indicate broad support for congressional age limits, and so he’s confident the measure would be approved at the polls.
Why set the cutoff at 81? “We just decided talking about it, thinking about it, that 81 was a good number where there’s virtually no opposition at that point,” said Hendrix.
Hendrix and two representatives from U.S. Term Limits, a 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for term limits for all elected officials, drove from Fargo to haul three boxes’ worth of petitions to the Capitol Friday morning.
If approved by voters, North Dakota would be the first state in the nation with such a law.
There’s reason to believe, however, that an age limit for congressional delegates could be challenged in court as unconstitutional.
“My understanding is that qualifications for serving in Congress are set in the United States Constitution, and so to change those qualifications, the U.S. Constitution would have to be changed,” said North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe. However, it’s not the job of the Secretary of State’s Office to assess the legality of ballot measures, he added.
“If this group wants to pose that question to the North Dakota voters, they have every right to do that,” Howe said.
Hendrix is already involved in a lawsuit with the state. Last year, he joined political advocacy groups and a petition company to sue North Dakota over a provision in the state constitution that prohibits out-of-state residents from circulating petitions for voter-initiated ballot measures. The case is scheduled to go to trial in 2025.
Hendrix was also behind a ballot measure approved by voters in 2022 setting term limits for the governor and state lawmakers.
This article first appeared in the North Dakota Monitor, a sister site of the Nebraska Examiner in the States Newsroom network.
Submitted Photo
U.S. soldiers with the Nebraska and North Dakota National Guards, assigned to Joint Task Force-District of Columbia in support of the DC Safe and Beautiful mission, pose for a group photo at a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, April 28. N.D. National Guard 2nd Lt. Caleb Hill, front row, far left, served as the officer in charge of the mission when soldiers assigned to JTF-DC responded to the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner April 25. About 2,500 National Guard members are supporting the DC Safe and Beautiful mission, providing critical assistance to the Metropolitan Police Department to help ensure the safety of residents, commuters and visitors throughout the District. U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Thomas Norris.
WASHINGTON – U.S. soldiers with the North Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska Army National Guard, assigned to Joint Task Force-District of Columbia in support of the DC Safe and Beautiful mission, responded to a shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner (WHCAD) at the Washington Hilton in Northwest Washington April 25.
The Guardsmen were at the WHCAD at the request of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) as an additional patrol unit created specifically for the event, which celebrates the contribution of news organizations and independent journalists alike who provide notable coverage relating to the presidential administration.
“Our mission was to assist the U.S. Secret Service with crowd control,” said Capt. Kevin Peatrowsky, an operations officer with the Nebraska National Guard (NENG) assigned to JTF-DC.
As the Guardsmen were monitoring their area of operations, they saw USSS agents sprint toward the hotel entrance.
“They were running full speed with their weapons drawn,” said Sgt. 1st. Class Allen Haney, a team member with the Arkansas National Guard. “We immediately followed suit.”
Staff Sgt. Kirsten Confer, a NENG combat medic and battle captain, recalled her response to the incident: “We fell back on our basic training. You run toward danger and move in a way that makes sense for the situation.”
According to Confer, the Guardsmen entered the hotel and immediately began securing the scene and ensured that the guests evacuated safely. At the direction of a federal agent, Confer began a rapid trauma assessment on the suspect which resulted in finding knives and ammunition on the shooter. Simultaneously, the Arkansas soldiers moved outside to provide crowd control at a pedestrian barricade outside the hotel.
“From there, we assisted wherever we could,” said 2nd Lt. Caleb Hill, a National Guardsman from North Dakota who served as the officer in charge for the mission. “We were initially helping with crowd control. After that, we realized that the USSS had begun rerouting everyone in the hotel, so we moved to the doors. We were controlling entry into the venue, so we had moved a couple more people outside, so we had five inside, eight outside.” Both Arkansas and Nebraska worked well alongside one another and, alongside the federal agencies. Hill also noted that relying on his soldiers allowed him to move to different teams, which helped allow him to plan and coordinate with different agencies.
According to 1st Lt. Jonathan Goins, a platoon leader with the Arkansas National Guard, Arkansas soldiers also helped establish a security perimeter for the staging of the presidential motorcade. Later, the team assisted federal agencies and MPD with crowd control, which helped clear the way for the president and administration officials, he said.
“Guardsmen on this mission represent the very best of the nation,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II, the interim commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard. “The world got a brief glimpse, but I see them each day serving and doing amazing things across the District.”
FARGO, N.D. (KELO) — The Sioux Falls Stampede staved off elimination with a 2-1 overtime win over the Fargo Force in game four of the USHL Western Conference Finals Saturday night.
Thomas Zocco scored the game-winner 12 minutes into the extra period. Arseni Marchenko put Fargo on the board first in the first period. Noah Mannausau tied the game for the Herd in the second period.
Sioux Falls outshot Fargo 53-49, including 9-5 in overtime. Linards Feldbergs made 48 saves.
Three of the four games of the series have gone to overtime. The winner-take-all game five is Tuesday at the Premier Center.
New ballot measure guide to be mailed to North Dakota voters ahead of election
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