{"id":844,"date":"2012-06-12T16:28:10","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T21:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=844"},"modified":"2012-07-31T21:47:14","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T02:47:14","slug":"state-wide-election-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=844","title":{"rendered":"State Wide Election Highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jun 12, 2012<\/span><\/p>\n


\nWrapping up highlights from the North Dakota Primary Elections on Tuesday….<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota voters have resoundingly defeated a proposal that would have made the state the first in the nation to abolish local property taxes. Unofficial returns last night showed voters rejecting the constitutional amendment. The amendment drew opposition from North Dakota public school teachers and local governments.<\/p>\n

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota residents have pushed the
\nUniversity of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname closer to
\nretirement. Voters overwhelmingly decided yesterday to dump the
\nschool’s moniker. The results send the matter back to the state
\nBoard of Higher Education, which is expected to re-retire the
\nnickname.<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A constitutional amendment to make it
\ntougher for state government to regulate religious practices has
\nfailed. Critics of the idea say it wasn’t necessary because the
\nU.S. and North Dakota constitutions already protect religious
\nfreedom. Supporters say the amendment would have restored
\nprotections of religious rights that were eroded by a U.S. Supreme
\nCourt decision in 1990.<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota voters have approved a change to the state constitution to make it easier for state legislators to land state government appointments.
\nThe North Dakota Legislature voted last year to put the measure on the ballot. Voters rejected a similar proposal in June 2008.
\nNorth Dakota’s constitution now bars lawmakers from accepting state appointments if the job’s pay has increased during the legislator’s term.
\nThe change would allow a legislator to take a state job if the pay went up – as long as the increase wasn’t beyond what the Legislature gave to state workers.<\/p>\n

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) – Former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp has congratulated U.S. Representative Rick Berg for his victory in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate nomination. He defeated challenger Duane Sand. Heitkamp ran unopposed in the Democratic primary on Tuesday. She and Berg will now face off for the Senate seat in November.
\nHeitkamp says that if she is elected, she will work on creating jobs and balancing the budget.<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Republicans have chosen Kevin Cramer over fellow state regulator Brian Kalk as their candidate for U.S. House.
\nKalk lost despite having the backing of North Dakota’s Republican Party. GOP activists picked Kalk as their favored candidate during the party’s April convention. Cramer skipped the convention to run in the primary.
\nBoth Kalk and Cramer are members of the state Public Service Commission.
\nCramer now will run against Democrat Pam Gulleson this fall.<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Republican Kirsten Baesler and Democrat
\nTracy Potter have advanced to face off in November for the state’s
\ntop elected school official. They finished as the top two finalists
\nfor North Dakota superintendent of public instruction. Incumbent
\nDemocrat Wayne Sanstead is stepping down from the post after 28
\nyears.
\nBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – In a North Dakota House Republican primary clash of three influential incumbents, Duane DeKrey (duh-KRAY’) was the odd man out.
\nDeKrey and Reps. Robin Weisz and Jon Nelson were put into the same region when the Legislature redrew North Dakota’s political map last November.
\nOne of the three had to lose in Tuesday’s primary, and Nelson and Weisz came in first and second.
\nDeKrey is a former state senator. He was elected to the House in 1994. He is chairman of the North Dakota House’s Judiciary Committee.
\nWeisz is chairman of the House’s Human Services Committee. Nelson serves on the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee. They’ve been in the House in 1996.
\nTheir district covers Kidder, Sheridan, Wells and Pierce counties and western Benson County in central North Dakota.<\/p>\n

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Veteran Mandan Republican state Rep.
\nRaeAnn Kelsch’s income tax problems have ended her time in the
\nLegislature.
\nKelsch conceded defeat Tuesday as she trailed incumbent Rep.
\nTodd Porter and challenger Nathan Toman in her district’s
\nRepublican House primary.
\nPorter and Toman will run as the district’s Republican House
\ncandidates in the fall.<\/p>\n

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Voters in North Dakota’s largest city have
\napproved the extension of a half-cent sales tax to fund
\ninfrastructure and flood protection in a narrow vote that likely
\nfalls just short of requiring an automatic recount.
\nThe Fargo measure passed by an unofficial 63 votes Tuesday, out
\nof nearly 22,000 that were cast. City Auditor Steve Sprague tells
\nThe Forum newspaper that a recount would have been required had the
\nmargin been 55 votes.
\nThe results must still be certified as official.
\nThe half-cent sales tax expires this month. If the vote results
\nstand, the tax will return Jan. 1 and last for 20 years, generating
\nan estimated $11 million per year initially.
\nBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The voter turnout in Tuesday’s North
\nDakota primary was the biggest in at least 30 years.
\nUnofficial totals say more than 175,000 people voted in the
\nelection.
\nSecretary of State Al Jaeger says that represents 33 percent of
\nthe number of North Dakotans who are eligible to vote. And he says
\nthere are still some late absentee ballots to be counted.
\nJaeger says the turnout is the biggest since 1980, when the
\nrecords started being kept.
\nIt’s bigger than 1992, when a Democratic primary contest for
\ngovernor resulted in 32 percent turnout. Almost 147,000 people
\nvoted in that election. This year’s turnout rate is similar because
\nNorth Dakota’s population has grown.
\nNorth Dakota voters had primary races for the U.S. House and
\nSenate and four ballot measures to decide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jun 12, 2012 Wrapping up highlights from the North Dakota Primary Elections on Tuesday…. BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota voters have resoundingly defeated a proposal that would have made the state the first in the nation to abolish local property taxes. Unofficial returns last night showed voters rejecting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=844"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1626,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions\/1626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}