Results on House’s election reform bills

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BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - “We are secure in North Dakota. There is no boogeyman in our elections,” said Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo.

Last year’s election was unique, but some lawmakers didn’t see it as a good thing.

In response to the many adjustments on how North Dakotans voted, the Legislature wrote 44 bills dealing specifically with election law.

This week, lawmakers had to decide which ones are just reactions and which should become the future of our state.

In the legislative chambers, the people we voted for are changing the rules on how we vote on them next time.

From when to where to how, Election Day in North Dakota may never be the same.

Fulfilling your civic duty.

It was a bit more difficult for some compared to previous years.

But for some lawmakers, it was more than just an inconvenience.

“It’s probably one of our most politically sacred days, and we’re losing that. Instead, now we have an election quarter. And the way things are going, we want things to be so incredibly easy for everybody, that we might as well have everybody vote whenever they want,” said Rep. Jeff Hoverson, R-Minot.

The House took votes on items including requiring at least one polling on election day and limiting absentee voting.

It voted on seven bills of the more than 40 elections bill, and they all had decisive margins.

Only two passed, including one requiring the full text of a ballot measure to be printed on a ballot.

“There’s no way I’d even vote for these if I had to stand there and read all this,” Rep. Mary Adams, D-Grand Forks, said holding eight measures from the 2014 ballot.

Each additional page on the ballot costs 30 cents, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

And there’s another bill awaiting a vote that would give voters 30 minutes in the booth read the ballots and vote.

While many lawmakers said they preferred the traditional style of voting, they said it wasn’t a question of security nor integrity.

Rather it’s concerns over exceptions becoming the rules.