Gov. Doug Burgum has vetoed a House bill to ban “approval voting” or “ranked-choice” voting to decide North Dakota election outcomes.
Under approval voting, a voter may cast ballots for as many candidates as they want… and the candidate with the most votes wins.
In “ranked-choice” voting, voters rate candidates in order of preference. The process continues until one candidate gets more than half of the vote.
In his veto letter to House Speaker Dennis Johnson, Burgum noted that Fargo is the only city using approval voting…and that “ranked-choice” voting is not used anywhere in the state.
Burgum said House Bill 1273 “undermines local control of local political subdivisions exercising their granted powers under home rule charter, specifically prohibiting using an approval voting method or ranked-choice voting method in local elections. This bill also applies restrictions to local elections held by counties, cities and other political subdivisions, regardless of whether they have adopted a home rule charter.”
Burgum added that the bill also would have rolled back the power granted to all 155 cities that adopted a home rule charter under North Dakota Century Code.
The bill is now sent back to the House.
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(Burgum letter: )
April 6, 2023
The Honorable Dennis Johnson
Speaker of the House
North Dakota House of Representatives
State Capitol
Bismarck, ND
Re: House Bill 1273
Dear Speaker Johnson:
Pursuant to Article V, Section 9 of the North Dakota Constitution, I have vetoed House Bill 1273 and return it to the House.
House Bill 1273 undermines local control of local political subdivisions exercising their granted powers under home rule charter, specifically prohibiting using an approval voting method or ranked-choice voting method in local elections. This bill also applies restrictions to local elections held by counties, cities and other political subdivisions, regardless of whether they have adopted a home rule charter.
To be clear, under existing law, counties and cities currently do not – and should not – have authority to implement approval voting or ranked-choice methods for state and federal elected office. Home rule authority applies only to local elections.
House Bill 1273 blatantly infringes on local control and the ability of residents in home rule cities to determine which method of local city election is best for their communities based on the unique aspects of city elections, including those that often have a very large field of candidates elected at-large and not by wards, with no party affiliation and no primary or runoff elections.
Currently, the mantra of “one person, one vote” is often cited in opposition to approval voting. However, in city and county elections using the current plurality voting method in North Dakota, individual voters already often have the opportunity to vote for multiple candidates for two, three, or four seats on a city council or county commission, for example.
Only one political subdivision, the city of Fargo, uses approval voting, having adopted this method through a citywide ballot measure in 2018 approved by 63.5% of those voting on the measure. Ranked-choice voting is not used by any political subdivision in North Dakota.
House Bill 1273 – sponsored by a dozen legislators but none of the 18 legislators who represent Fargo – subverts the will of Fargo residents and overturns the supermajority approval of their 2018 ballot measure five years later.
House Bill 1273 also rolls back the power granted to all 155 cities – across every North Dakota legislative district – that have adopted a home rule charter under North Dakota Century Code 40-05.1-06 Subsection 9, which states that home rule cities have authority “to provide for all matters pertaining to city elections, except as to qualifications of electors.”
Withdrawing this authority after it has already been exercised to carry out the supermajority will of voters is an egregious example of state overreach and demonstrates a lack of respect for local control. Further, instead of taking the opportunity to respect the decision made by over 30,000 Fargo voters and include a grandfather clause in House Bill 1273, the Legislative Assembly is attempting to move the goalposts after the rules were set and legally followed.
To nullify the legitimate votes of tens of thousands of North Dakota citizens and prevent other home rule cities and counties from exercising their home rule authority over elections of their own elected officials is improper and invites legal action against the state.
In North Dakota, we frequently rail against federal overreach that impacts states’ rights. If we truly believe in limited government and local control, we can begin by honoring the boundaries, intent and spirit of home rule charters, especially when there is no evidence of any harm having occurred from trusting the residents of cities to have self-determination within the bounds of their home rule charters.
For the reasons stated above, House Bill 1273 is vetoed.
Sincerely,
Doug Burgum
Governor
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