BISMARCK (KFGO) – Fargo is the only city in the state with approval voting but it won’t be around for long. The North Dakota Senate overwhelmingly passed House Bill 1273 to prohibit approval voting systems statewide.
The vote passed 33-13.
Fargo Sen. Ron Sorvaag said many of his constituents wanted him to support the ban but he said it should not be up to the legislature to change the approval voting that was approved in a 2018 city ballot measure.
“I have people who support me that really want me to vote ‘yes’ on this, and I don’t like this,” Sorvaag said. “I don’t think it’s a good way to vote. But I represent people, and people are my bosses. A majority of my constituents that live in the city voted for this, and if they don’t want it, they should take it away. I wish they would, but I don’t think it’s any business of the Legislature. The citizens of this community chose it.”
The House approved the bill in February. The vote clears the two-thirds majority threshold required to override a veto by Gov. Doug Burgum.
West Fargo Rep. Ben Koppelman, who sponsored the bill, said it needed to be “banned.”
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