Oberon voters officially contest city's election

On Tuesday, June 14, voters across North Dakota took to the polls to cast their votes in this summer’s elections, even in the small town of Oberon.

Oberon’s population is just 101 according to the 2020 census, and the number of eligible voters is fewer still. Even so, one resident says relatively few voters turned out for the city’s elections, and, in his opinion, that’s no coincidence.

Corey Ploium, a resident of Oberon, alleges that multiple procedures were improperly conducted or ignored entirely by his city’s government relating to their election on Tuesday, June 14.

Consequently, he and 11 other Oberon residents have begun the process of officially contesting Oberon’s June 14 municipal election.

Among the allegations are that proper notification for Oberon’s election was not provided, leaving some residents in the dark as to when and where votes could be cast.

The only notice given, said Ploium, came in the form of a piece of paper taped to the door of Oberon’s community center on election day.

“Nobody knew about the election,” Ploium said. “Even people living a block away from where they had the election didn’t know about it.”

North Dakota Century Code (N.D.C.C) 40-21-02, requires that city auditors give 10 days’ notice of the time and place of an election, as well as the offices to be filled in that election, via the official newspaper of their city.

Oberon’s official newspaper, the Benson County Farmers Press, confirmed with the Transcript that Oberon’s most recent notice for an election ran in March and April, which was for a special election on April 26, and that no other election notices have been published since.

Also alleged is that multiple Oberon residents were not sent absentee ballots, despite going through the necessary steps to acquire them.

Normally, a resident requesting an absentee ballot must fill out an application and submit that application to the county, who will then make an absentee ballot available if the qualifications are met.

However, the Joint Powers Agreement between Benson County and the City of Oberon for the holding of Oberon City elections, was terminated this May.

A letter from Benson County Auditor, Bonnie Erickson, dated Tuesday, May 10, which was also taped to the door of Oberon’s community center, stated, “Benson County is hereby terminating the Joint Powers Agreement entered into in 2008 with Oberon City as the ballots for the City of Oberon were not provided to my office in the time frame stated in the agreement.”

Erickson told the Transcript on Tuesday, June 28, that the last day for Oberon to provide the county with their ballots was April 29.

The May 10 letter goes on to explain that, as a result of the agreement's termination, any absentee ballot applications received by the county auditor’s office would be forwarded to the Oberon City Auditor, Wanda Randle.

According to Erickson, 11 valid absentee ballot applications from Oberon residents were received by her office and forwarded to Oberon’s auditor in May, without any response from Randle.

Ploium alleges that none of the residents who submitted valid applications received an absentee ballot for the Oberon city election.

According to Ploium, the City of Oberon also canvassed their election returns on Tuesday, June 21, earlier than the timeline established in N.D.C.C. 16.1-15-17, and 40-21-16.1, which require that, for city elections not held in conjunction with county elections, the canvassing board must meet on the thirteenth day following the election.

That would make the date of canvassing for this summer’s elections Monday, June 27, six days later than when Oberon allegedly canvassed their municipal elections.

Ploium believes these issues may not simply be the result of incompetence on the part of city officials, but could actually be a coordinated attempt to keep themselves and their family members in office.

“If she would have simply done her job, people would have gotten their absentee ballots,” said Ploium regarding Randle’s handling of absentee ballot applications, “but it’s not that easy when her dad is on the council, her cousin is on the council and her brother-in-law is the mayor. So you see where I’m going with this.”

He added, “I believe the city council should step up to the plate and say we messed up. If not, to me this looks to be very intentional.”

N.D.C.C. 16.1-16-02 states that only a defeated candidate or 10 “qualified electors” may contest a nomination or election.

As of press time, Ploium said that he and 11 other qualified electors from Oberon had signed onto the action to contest the election, which was then filed with the Benson County Clerk of Court in Minnewaukan on Thursday, June 30.

According to N.D.C.C. 16.1-16-04, the contestee, or “the party against whom the action is instituted,” must now file their answer within 14 days after the contest summons and complaint are served.

Century Code also requires that an election contest take precedence over regular court business, and requires the district court to set the hearing on the contest action “not more than ten days after the filing of the contest answer.”

The Transcript reached out to Oberon City Auditor, Wanda Randle, for comment regarding the allegations, but had not received any response prior to press time.

The Transcript will continue to update this story as it unfolds.