Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Dear Governor Burgum,
I am writing on behalf of the North Dakota County Auditors Association for whom I serve as the executive director. North Dakota County Auditors are the frontline election administrators for the North Dakota elections. Currently, all auditors share one critical concern - the public safety of voters and poll workers during the June primary. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, Auditors are concerned about being able to execute an election while maintaining the recommendations from the CDC, ND Department of Health and Governor’s office regarding social distancing and flattening the curve.
As election officials we cannot in good faith ask people to serve as poll workers and knowingly expose them and their families to additional persons at the primary, increasing the risk for all. In addition, auditors are finding it very challenging to recruit poll workers given the current health crisis. Richland County, for example, has reached out to poll workers to begin the recruitment process; the no responses have been overwhelming. In addition, many of our state’s poll workers fall within the high-risk category for contracting COVID-19.
The North Dakota County Auditors Association voted to respectfully ask for you to consider the following three requests.
1. We request an executive order for the State of North Dakota, in all 53 counties, to conduct the June 2020 Primary by mail ballot only.
2. We urge you, through executive order, to waive the requirement for one physical polling location on primary day. For public safety reasons, it is our request that no polling locations be open on June 9. This action would ensure uniformity across the state.
3. We request an executive order to increase the time to process mail/ absentee ballots from the current 2 business days to 5 business days. This is appropriate for the volume of ballots we are expecting to process. No election results would be tabulated in this extended process time. Results would only be tabulated after 7 p.m. local time on primary day (June 9). The additional processing time would allow all counties, large and small, to open envelopes, verify signatures and prepare ballots for processing through the election equipment.
On that note, county auditors are thankful to the State of North Dakota for the purchase of the new high-throughput DS450 election machines, which will greatly assist us in completing the processing and eventually the tabulation of votes to be released on election night. These new machines will be a tremendous asset during this election when we are expecting an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand the shift to “mail ballots only” could potentially cause unforeseen complications with the agreements with our Tribal partners. We stress that this request is only for the June 2020 primary at this time, with elections and polling locations to go back to normal state for the November General Election should the COVID-19 pandemic be resolved by that time.
The North Dakota County Auditors Association is grateful for the consideration you will give this important issue. We appreciate your leadership during this unprecedented and critical time.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. In addition, I would appreciate any communication regarding discussions or deliberations on this matter. Again, thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Donnell Preskey Hushka
NDACo Government / Public Affairs Specialist
Executive Director ND
Auditor’s & Treasurer’s Association Executive Director
ND Sheriffs & Deputies Association
Desk: 701-328-7300
Cell: 701-220-6607
