BISMARCK (PRAIRIE PUBLIC/KFGO) – The North Dakota House of Representatives has voted to override Governor Doug Burgum’s veto of a bill to prevent local governments from adopting approval voting or ranked choice voting for local elections.
In 2018, Fargo was the first city in the country to adopt approval voting for its local elections. Under it, a voter can cast ballots for more than one candidate for the office – and the candidate who receives the most votes is elected. It was done by a citizen initiative, under the city’s home rule charter.
Fargo Democratic Representative LaurieBeth Hager urged her colleagues to uphold the veto.
“I don’t think that any one of us in the room has a right to take away the Home Rule charter and how Fargo wants to elect their local representatives,” she said.
House Majority Leader Mike Lefor of Dickinson urged that the veto be overridden.
“By introducing and passing House Bill 1273 the legislature properly exercised its authority to regulate the way elections are conducted, and such a broad departure from how the majority of the state conducts its elections is a matter of statewide concern,” he said.
The override needs a two-thirds vote in each chamber. The House vote was 71 to 17. The state Senate will also take up the veto.
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