Three North Dakota Republican Party officials are suing the state’s top election official over what they say is inconsistent enforcement of election rules. The state Supreme Court lawsuit comes as absentee voting already is underway in North Dakota. The lawsuit seeks to overturn the election victories of four GOP legislative candidates should any of them win in November.
Citizens Alliance of North Dakota, a political organization led by former Republican state Rep. Brandon Prichard, announced the lawsuit Monday. The case appeared in the Supreme Court online docket Tuesday. The challengers are District 25 GOP Chair Matt Evans, Rep. Jeff Hoverson, R-Minot, and Douglas Pearson, a District 7 GOP Executive Committee member. Evans and Hoverson lost their Republican primary election bids to candidates their lawsuit now challenges.
The lawsuit names Secretary of State Michael Howe. Court papers allege the nominating petitions of North Dakota House candidates Blaine DesLauriers, Terry Goerger, Timothy Mihalick and Steve Sauter should be invalidated because of irregularities such as incomplete information from petition signers and no political party affiliation listed on petitions. The lawsuit also alleges that some of those candidates could amend their petitions’ missing or incomplete information but others were rejected, such as a Citizens Alliance petition for a special election in Grand Forks-area District 42.
“This unequal administrative scheme grants special privileges to select candidates while penalizing others who commit similar statutory omissions,” the lawsuit states. DesLauriers and Mihalick are running mates for Minot-area District 3. Goerger is running for Richland County-area District 25. Sauter is a candidate in Bismarck-area District 7. They are all Republicans who won their primary election after getting on the ballot by gathering petition signatures and not by party endorsement – a point of contention by intraparty opponents who have decried the signature path to the ballot.
The lawsuit asks the Supreme Court to force the secretary of state to declare the four candidates’ petitions insufficient under state law and essentially nullify their election victories if any wins. The challengers want the seats declared vacant and filled by the process in state law for legislative vacancies – a method that would favor them – in which the local district party makes an appointment. Sauter said he followed the law as to his petition signatures, and he trusts Howe and his office.
“I know I did everything following the rules that they gave me,” he said. The North Dakota Monitor left phone messages for DesLauriers, Mihalick and Goerger. Howe declined to comment. The challengers’ attorney, Fintan Dooley, said the key concerns are disparate treatment “afforded some people but not others,” and inadequately sized petition forms that can’t fit all the information needed from signers.
In a statement, Prichard said, “The Secretary of State holds a mandatory administrative duty to enforce state election laws as written by the Legislature. Secretary Howe cannot invent extra-statutory curing rules for favored candidates while strictly rejecting citizens’ petitions for minor technical omissions. Equal protection and the rule of law require full compliance with the North Dakota Century Code.” Court papers detail Prichard’s initial queries beginning in July about petitions and signatures submitted by 13 legislat
