North Dakota: Bison players among 11 facing voter fraud charges | The Jamestown Sun

Eight current North Dakota State University football players and one former player are among 11 people expected to be charged with voter fraud tied to two attempts to place measures on this fall’s general election ballot. Backers of the measures pulled from the ballot expressed sadness Tuesday. “We’re extremely disappointed that this alleged fraud occurred. We had no desires to be on the ballot in any other than a pure and honest way,” said Stephen Adair, chairman of the committee backing a constitutional initiative that, had it passed, would have created a land and water conservation fund.

North Dakota: Recount planned for District 28 GOP primary | The Jamestown Sun

The Republican primary race in District 28 will have to go to an automatic recount to see who will run for the North Dakota House of Representatives, according to the State Canvassing Board. Jim Silrum, North Dakota deputy secretary of state, said if the difference in vote totals between two candidates is less than 1 percent of the highest vote cast for a candidate for that office, an automatic recount is required. “Almost every election promotes the possibility of a recount, especially in small cities for races like city offices,” Silrum said. “However, the fact that it’s happening in a legislative district primary is certainly not unprecedented.” Ballots cast in six counties — Dickey, McIntosh, LaMoure, Logan, Burleigh and Emmons — will now be recounted beginning Thursday at 9 a.m. and continuing until Monday at 2 p.m.

North Dakota: Problems at polls leave some unable to voice their vote | WDAY

A problem at the polls left some people unable to voice their vote. There was a mix-up with the ballots between Fargo and West Fargo, so some people ended up voting in the wrong races. It’s an opportunity Randy Schmidt waited years for — his first time voting in the Cass County primary elections. Schmidt: “there were some important measures I wanted to vote on this year.” Schmidt lives in Fargo, but because of legislative redistricting, his polling location was here, at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in West Fargo. Schmidt says he walked in, grabbed the ballot, but something was wrong.

North Dakota: Long lines greet voters on election day | Minot Daily News

A combination of high voter turnout and redistricting changes contributed to often long lines at Minot’s four polling places Tuesday. Devra Smestad, Ward County auditor, said there was a learning curve that resulted in longer lines earlier in the day, particularly at the Maysa Arena voting site. Movement through the system went faster with the addition of more scanners and changes in the way election workers handled the flow, such as giving voting directions to groups of voters rather than each voter individually. “We are seeing where we need to improve and we see where things are going very well. We appreciate the people’s patience and we understand their frustration,” Smestad said.

North Dakota: Unlike the rest of the State, Medora voters must register to vote in North Dakota. | The Jamestown Sun

Attention Medora residents: By the time you read this article, you will have less than 12 hours to be eligible to vote for city elections. Medora is the only city in North Dakota that requires its residents to register. If they don’t register, they don’t vote — no way around it. Voter hopefuls must fill out a form, get it notarized and hand it in to the Medora City Auditor’s Office by 5 p.m. today to register to vote for city elections, according to a public notice from the city auditor. Voter registration in Medora was adopted in the early 1990s due to seasonal workers voting in the June elections, Mayor Doug Ellison said. “It’s up to the municipality to initiate (voter registration) or not, but Medora decided to do it back then just to avoid a repetition of this disputed election,” he said.

North Dakota: Secretary of State warns against lax handling of ballot measure petitions | The Republic

North Dakota’s secretary of state says people who sign ballot measure petitions should make sure the petition carrier sees them do it. Al Jaeger says he’s heard reports of petitions being left unattended for people to sign. Jaeger says that’s against the law, and signatures on those petitions may not be counted. Jaeger says sometimes petitions are downloaded and circulated by people who may not be aware of the rules.

North Dakota: Smaller Counties Mean Larger Election Costs | Election Data Dispatches

In North Dakota, research indicates that elections cost significantly more per voter in smaller counties than larger ones.

Less populous counties spent up to $22 per voter to run elections in 2010, while several larger counties spent approximately $3 per voter, according to calculations by the Secretary of State’s office. This parallels a 2001 Voting Technology Project report, which found that one of the least populous counties in North Dakota spent more than $14 per voter, while the largest spent less than $2 per voter in the 2000 election.

North Dakota: Jury still out in voting centers issue | Bismarck Tribune

“It was a valuable experiment. We learned what worked well and what things didn’t,” said Burleigh County Auditor Kevin Glatt about using voting centers for this week’s special election on Bismarck’s smoking ban. One center was placed at the Bismarck Civic Center and one at the VFW Sports Arena. There are now 35 voting precincts and…