Elections in North Dakota
| Elections in North Dakota |
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Statewide elections in North Dakota occur every two years. Most executive offices and all legislators are elected to four-year terms, with half the terms expiring on Presidential election years, and the other half of the offices expiring on mid-term election years.
Voting requirements
North Dakota is the only state without a voter registration process. Any person over the age of 18 who has lived in a precinct for three or more months may vote in local, state, and federal elections without registration. In order to vote, however, a person must bring identification of a type pre-selected by the North Dakota Secretary of State. For the 2016 election[update], this list includes a North Dakota driver's license, non-driver's ID card, tribal government issued ID card, or an identification card provided by a North Dakota long-term care facility. Neither a United States Passport nor a North Dakota College- or University-issued ID card[1] are accepted, and North Dakota does not offer provisional ballots to those who do not have an acceptable form of identification.[2]
Federal elections
President
Since the 1972 presidential election, North Dakota has been able to send three electors to the Electoral College, who the voters pick in a first-past-the-post winner-take-all popular vote.
United States Senate
Like all US states, North Dakota must send two Senators to the United States Senate. North Dakota's two senators are in classes 1 and 3. Senators John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp currently serve the state; Hoeven was elected in 2010, and Heitkamp in 2012, both to six-year terms.
United States House of Representatives
Since 1972, North Dakota has had a single seat in the United States House of Representatives; Kevin Cramer currently fills the seat, the term for which expires every two years.
State elections
Governor
Every four years, concurrent with the federal presidential election, North Dakota voters select a governor and lieutenant governor to lead the executive branch for the next four years. The two offices are elected together on a single ballot line.
Other executive offices
Most of the other statewide executive offices are elected in a statewide popular vote to a term of four years. On presidential election years, voters select a State Auditor, State Treasurer, and Insurance Commissioner, all on a partisan ballot. They also select a Superintendent of Public Instruction on a nonpartisan ballot. On mid-term election years, voters select an Attorney General, Secretary of State, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Tax Commissioner. In addition, every two years, voters select someone to fill a six-year seat on the Public Service Commission.
Legislature
All members of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly—whether the House of Representatives or the Senate—are elected to four-year terms. Even-numbered legislative districts elect their one senator and two representatives in presidential election years; odd-numbered districts do so in mid-term election years.
Supreme Court
Members of the North Dakota Supreme Court are elected by the people on a nonpartisan ballot to ten-year terms, arranged so that one seat is up every two years.
See also
References
- ^ Watts, Adam; Lyden, Grace (March 9, 2016). "ID law may complicate voting for North Dakota students". Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ "ID Required for voting in North Dakota". Vote.ND.Gov. North Dakota Secretary of State. Retrieved March 8, 2016.