Bismarck District 7 Voters Handed Wrong Ballots in Morning Mix-Up
“Some of them who got the wrong ballot, they came back and noticed they got the wrong ballot, and that was corrected. But there might have been some people who didn’t realize they had the wrong ballot,” Aaron Birst, the election inspector on site, told North Dakota Monitor. An election error at the Liberty Elementary polling location in Bismarck, North Dakota, resulted in some District 7 voters receiving a ballot that completely omitted the district’s legislative races early Tuesday.
The polling location opened its doors at 7 a.m., and the mistake was caught and corrected by approximately 9:30 a.m. Affected District 7 voters had been erroneously handed a ballot meant for District 8, which does not have any legislative races on the ballot this year. Birst estimated that roughly 120 people had cast their votes before workers stopped and fixed the sorting mistake. About half of those early voters used touch-screen voting machines, which remained entirely unaffected by the mix-up. That left a maximum potential impact of 30 to 60 paper ballots.
How the Paper Stack Intermingled
The root of the error traced directly back to how the paper ballots were organized prior to distribution. Liberty Elementary serves four distinct precincts—two in District 7 and two in District 8—with each individual precinct utilizing its own specific ballot version. Election workers maintain these versions in separate stacks of blank paper ballots, handing the corresponding version to voters based on their home address.
Birst explained that two of those ballot stacks became intermingled because their numeric identifiers were remarkably similar. Statewide races, including two contested ballot measures, remained completely unaffected by the oversight. The only substantive difference between the two paperwork versions was the inclusion or exclusion of the District 7 House and Senate contests.
One error is too many.
That was the assessment from North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe, who noted that he was not aware of similar errors occurring anywhere else across the state. Howe emphasized that the incident shows why election officials continually urge voters to review sample ballots online prior to heading to the polls so they know exactly which contests to expect.
Voter Impact and the Limit of Remedies
For those who placed the incorrect ballot into a tabulator, however, there is no practical remedy available. “You’ve already cast a ballot,” Howe said, expressing frustration for both the unaware voters and the candidates whose races were bypassed.
Sen. Michelle Axtman, a Republican facing Democratic challenger Kevin Horneman in the local Senate race, cast her own ballot at Liberty Elementary on Tuesday morning. She reported receiving multiple phone calls from constituents who discovered their ballots lacked her name. While expressing confidence that the Secretary of State’s Office and the county auditor can untangle the extent of the error, Axtman offered a brief moment of personal relief: “Thankfully, I got a ballot with my name on it.”
Jason Thoms, a candidate running for one of the two District 7 House seats alongside Tiffany Williams-Rice—with Republicans Steve Sauter and Greg Vetter also contesting the seats—shared his perspective as the morning unfolded. Thoms noted he was thankful the mistake was caught early in the day, though he acknowledged the troubling reality that some citizens may have missed their chance to vote for their next lawmakers.
Federal Monitors Oversee Voting in Cass County
Beyond the Bismarck ballot mix-up, voting infrastructure across North Dakota saw distinct oversight on Tuesday. Secretary of State Howe confirmed that no issues were brought to his office regarding U.S. Department of Justice election monitors stationed in Cass County. Those federal observers formed part of a nationwide initiative coordinated by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, marking the first time the Department of Justice has had Election Day monitors in all 50 states, as detailed in a federal statement.
Other minor logistical hurdles surfaced elsewhere in the state. An observer from the League of Women Voters noted that the Icon Sports Center in Grand Forks ran out of paper ballots for a single district at approximately 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. While express voting machines remained available, long queues formed, and an observer witnessed three individuals walk away without voting. Meanwhile, the Native American Rights Fund deployed 18 election observers across nine North Dakota locations. Senior staff attorney Jacqueline De León reported that while a couple of minor issues emerged in areas with significant Native American populations, workers quickly resolved them to ensure eligible citizens successfully cast their ballots.
