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Voters reject marijuana legalization in North Dakota and South Dakota

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Voters reject marijuana legalization in North Dakota and South Dakota


Voters in two sparsely populated red states, North Dakota and South Dakota, have rejected ballot initiatives that would have legalized recreational marijuana. With nearly all ballots counted on Tuesday night, North Dakota’s Initiated Measure 5 had received support from less than 48 percent of voters. South Dakota’s Initiated Measure 29 was favored by about 42 percent of voters with three-quarters of ballots counted.

Registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats by more than 2 to 1 in South Dakota, where the GOP has controlled the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature since 1995.

In 2020, South Dakota voters nevertheless approved two ballot measures that would have simultaneously legalized both medical and recreational marijuana. The medical initiative was favored by nearly 70 percent of voters, while the recreational initiative got 54 percent. After Kristi Noem, South Dakota’s Republican governor, mounted a successful court challenge to the recreational initiative, reformers tried again in 2022, when 53 percent of voters said no.

South Dakota voters got another chance to change their minds this year. Measure 29 would have allowed adults 21 or older to possess two ounces or less and grow up to six plants at home. It also would have allowed sharing among adults “without consideration.” Like the 2022 initiative but unlike the 2020 version, this year’s ballot measure does not authorize commercial production and distribution.

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Measure 29’s backers far outspent its opponents, but polls conducted prior to the election were not encouraging. A survey conducted last May put support for the initiative at 42 percent, with 52 percent opposed and the rest undecided. A poll conducted last month found that 45 percent of likely voters favored the initiative, with 50 percent opposed and 5 percent undecided.

The ratio of Republicans to Democrats is similarly lopsided in North Dakota, where the GOP has likewise maintained a trifecta since 1995. And as in South Dakota, voters are fine with medical marijuana, which they approved by a 28-point margin in 2016, but leery of recreational legalization, which they rejected in 2018 and 2022.

Measure 5 would have let adults 21 or older possess up to an ounce and grow up to three plants at home. It also would have authorized commercial production and distribution by state-licensed businesses.

The marijuana legalization campaign had an even bigger financial advantage in North Dakota than in South Dakota: Ballotpedia had not identified any opposition spending as of September. A survey of likely voters conducted that month found that 45 percent favored recreational legalization, 40 percent were opposed, and 15 percent were undecided. Those undecided voters evidently broke the wrong way.

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North Dakota

North Dakota Election Live Results 2024

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North Dakota Election Live Results 2024


Bert AndersonB. AndersonAndersonincumbent Republican

Donald LongmuirD. LongmuirLongmuirincumbent Republican

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Dick AndersonD. AndersonAndersonincumbent Republican

Dan VollmerD. VollmerVollmer Republican

SuAnn OlsonS. OlsonOlsonincumbent Republican

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Mike BergM. BergBerg Republican

Jayme DavisJ. DavisDavisincumbent Democrat

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Collette BrownC. BrownBrown Democrat

Hamida DakaneH. DakaneDakaneincumbent Democrat

Steve SwiontekS. SwiontekSwiontekincumbent Republican

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Bernie SatromB. SatromSatromincumbent Republican

Mitch OstlieM. OstlieOstlieincumbent Republican

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Jon NelsonJ. NelsonNelsonincumbent Republican

Robin WeiszR. WeiszWeiszincumbent Republican

Kathy FrelichK. FrelichFrelichincumbent Republican

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Donna HendersonD. HendersonHendersonincumbent Republican

Andrew MarschallA. MarschallMarschallincumbent Republican

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Ben KoppelmanB. KoppelmanKoppelmanincumbent Republican

Steve VetterS. VetterVetterincumbent Republican

Mary AdamsM. AdamsAdams Democrat

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Mike BeltzM. BeltzBeltzincumbent Republican

Jared HagertJ. HagertHagertincumbent Republican

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Brandy PyleB. PylePyleincumbent Republican

Jonathan WarreyJ. WarreyWarreyincumbent Republican

Dennis NehringD. NehringNehringincumbent Republican

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Mark CaslerM. CaslerCasler Democrat

Dwight KiefertD. KiefertKiefertincumbent Republican

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Nancy FarnhamN. FarnhamFarnham Democrat

Jeremy OlsonJ. OlsonOlsonincumbent Republican

Roger MakiR. MakiMaki Republican

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Mike BrandenburgM. BrandenburgBrandenburgincumbent Republican

Jim GrueneichJ. GrueneichGrueneichincumbent Republican

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Mike NatheM. NatheNatheincumbent Republican

Glenn BoschG. BoschBoschincumbent Republican

Pat HeinertP. HeinertHeinertincumbent Republican

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Lisa MeierL. MeierMeierincumbent Republican

Nathan TomanN. TomanTomanincumbent Republican

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Todd PorterT. PorterPorterincumbent Republican

Dori HauckD. HauckHauckincumbent Republican

Ty DresslerT. DresslerDressler Republican

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Dan RubyD. RubyRubyincumbent Republican

Lisa HermosilloL. HermosilloHermosillo Democrat

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Matthew RubyM. RubyRubyincumbent Republican

Alexandra DeufelA. DeufelDeufel Democrat

Emily O’BrienE. O’BrienO’Brienincumbent Republican

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Sarah GrossbauerS. GrossbauerGrossbauer Democrat

Karla HansonK. HansonHansonincumbent Democrat

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Austin FossA. FossFoss Democrat

Jim KasperJ. KasperKasperincumbent Republican

Todd ReisenauerT. ReisenauerReisenauer Democrat

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Lisa Finley-DeVilleL. Finley-DeVilleFinley-DeVilleincumbent Democrat

Ronald BrughR. BrughBrugh Republican

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Clayton FegleyC. FegleyFegleyincumbent Republican

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North Dakota

Before the real voting, there’s the trial run • North Dakota Monitor

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Before the real voting, there’s the trial run • North Dakota Monitor


Bob Henderson, the director of information technology in Cass County, called it one of the most important but most tedious parts of election preparation — testing the machines that tabulate the votes. 

Before voting begins, the vote tabulators are fed a “test deck” — a group of ballots that is filled out before the election to make sure machines get the correct vote total. 

Similar tests are done in every county across the state before the machines are used. 

Bob Henderson, the director of information technology for Cass County show a controller that people with disabilities can use to navigate the electronic voting machines. The county also has headphones for the voting machine so the hearing impaired can listen to voting options on the ballot. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

The North Dakota Monitor observed the public demonstrations Cass and Burleigh counties did of voting equipment leading up to the election. 

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“It went as it should go,” Mark Splonskowski, auditor-treasurer for Burleigh County, said of the test. “It counted it correctly and then we zeroed it out and made sure it was at zero when we were done.”

Henderson and other Cass County election officials demonstrated how the voting machines work and answered questions about the election process on Oct. 25 at a Fargo warehouse where the county stores its election equipment. 

Nathan Hansen, who works in the county’s finance office, fed ballots into the machine by hand, just as a voter would, unless a voter asks for help from an election official. Some of the ballots are intentionally mismarked, such as voting for two candidates in the presidential race, to make sure the machine flags those kinds of mistakes for voters so they can get a new ballot to fix the mistake if they want to. 

The machine will also flag races that are skipped or where the voter does not vote for the maximum number of candidates, such as voting for only one candidate for state House of Representatives when voters can select two.

Voting already has been taking place for weeks in North Dakota by absentee or mail-in voting and early in-person voting. 

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Cass County, North Dakota’s most populous county, runs more than 500 ballots through each of the more than 60 voting tabulators before they are given the stamp of approval. 

The number of test ballots is determined by the number of contests. A county or precinct with fewer races will have fewer scenarios to test for. 

During the Burleigh County test, Splonskowski demonstrated how the machine won’t allow multiple ballots to be inserted at the same time. He added the height and width specifications of the ballots must match the requirements of the machine.

Rep. Karen Karls, R-Bismarck, chair of NDGOP District 35, also viewed the Burleigh County election equipment test. 

“It seems pretty straightforward,” Karls said of this year’s test.

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Cass County employee Nathan Hansen feeds a test ballot into a vote tabulation machine in Fargo, North Dakota, on Oct. 25, 2024. Looking on during the public demonstration is Cody Schuler of the North Dakota American Civil Liberties Union. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

She said she comes to the test every election cycle because some of her voters have concerns about election security.

“There are election deniers out there, and so I ask the questions and hopefully get the answers that take care of the problem,” Karls said. 

Splonkowski said election officials and state lawmakers have tried to get ahead of election integrity questions.

“What I want is an informed electorate,” Splonskowski said. “I want informed legislators, so they know how the process works, so that they can understand it better. If there are to be improvements made, you can’t make improvements unless you already know how it works.”

All ballots cast in North Dakota are paper ballots, whether filled in manually or with a touchscreen. Henderson calls the touchscreen “a digital pencil” that transfers the voter’s choices to a paper ballot. The voter can review that ballot before submitting.

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Henderson emphasized that neither the touch screen nor the vote tabulators are connected to the internet. Flash drives or “data sticks” are used to physically take results from the machine to the auditor’s office, but the paper ballots are put into sealed containers for potential verification. 

Cody Schuler, advocacy manager of the American Civil Liberties Union in North Dakota, observed the Cass County demonstration. 

The ACLU is among the groups that monitor voting sites and take reports of irregularities. The ACLU partners with the League of Women Voters on voter access issues. 

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“If folks feel their rights are being violated, or if there are long lines and want to report things that might be hindering people’s accessibility to the polls, those are the kind of things that people need to self-advocate for, but the ACLU and our partner organizations across the nation do that and we’re active here in North Dakota,” Schuler said.

Voters also can report issues to either of those groups, the county or to the secretary of state. 

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Searching for a kidney donor in North Dakota

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Searching for a kidney donor in North Dakota


BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Nearly 100,000 people are waiting for a transplant in the U.S. Steve Wetzel is one of them, and he’s looking at a three to five-year-long wait.

Steve Wetzel was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. His doctors recommended 12 rounds of consecutive chemotherapy, and for a couple of years, his cancer went into remission. But in 2019, he was diagnosed with a different form of cancer. This time, though, the chemotherapy damaged his kidneys. About a year later, he was diagnosed with stage five kidney failure.

“It teaches you a lot of patience. You know, that it’s not going to be an overnight process in comparison to going to a walk-in clinic or a relatively quick fix with medication or anything like that,” Wetzel said.

While he waits on a donor match, Wetzel has to use an at-home dialysis system every night for about seven hours. He gets one month of supplies at a time— they fill nearly an entire bedroom in his home.

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It’s not as simple as getting a family member to donate a kidney. Wetzel said a history of cancer, bad blood pressure and more can disqualify someone from donating. On top of that, his blood type is O, which means he needs a kidney from someone who’s either O positive or O negative, meaning he’ll likely need to wait longer than normal.

“The appointments continually can get taxing at times, but overall, it just teaches you to trust the process and be patient with the process, that the doctors have your best interests,” Wetzel said.

He estimates he’ll need to wait three to five years before he’s matched with a donor; he said typically, that wait time is two to three years.

Wetzel said on top of checking in with hospitals, he regularly checks the United Network for Organ Sharing’s kidney-paired program for possible living donors. You can go there as well if you or someone you know is searching for a donor.

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