County election results finalized

The Stutsman County Canvassing Board reviewed 105 ballots during its meeting Friday. The board rejected 33 ballots and added the other 72 ballots to the unofficial totals from Election Day. None of the issues were close enough to be effected by the additional votes.

The rejected ballots were all absentee ballots either postmarked the day of the election or later or with signature irregularities. North Dakota election law requires an absentee ballot be either returned to the courthouse or postmarked no later than the day before the election. The law also requires the signature on the voter affidavit on the envelope containing the ballot match the signature on the application for an absentee ballot.

In some cases, voters printed on one form and signed the other. In other cases the signature on the voter affidavit was omitted. Several ballots were also rejected because they were postmarked too late.

The bulk of the approved ballots were absentee ballots where the mailing address used for the ballot did not match the voter’s address of residence in Stutsman County. These cases were often referred to as “snowbirds” because many people had already moved to their southern winter homes at the time of the election.

Casey Bradley, Stutsman County chief operating officer and auditor, said the high voter turnout resulted in a higher than normal number of ballots referred to the canvassing board for review.

“We seemed to have a lot more absentee voters and that created almost all the problems,” he said.

After the addition of the 72 allowed ballots the Stutsman County general election was declared official and the results forwarded to the North Dakota secretary of state’s office for the state canvassing board to review on Nov. 13.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: news, election