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North Dakota Becomes 15th State To Prohibit Ranked-Choice Voting In Elections

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Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed legislation on Wednesday prohibiting the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in North Dakota elections, making it the 15th state to do so.

“Now more than ever, we need a consistent, efficient and easy-to-understand voter experience across our entire state to maintain trust in our election system,” Armstrong said in a statement. “This is one more in a series of proactive, common-sense steps our Secretary of State and Legislature have taken to support election integrity.”

HB 1297 stipulates that “[a]pproval voting or ranked-choice voting may not be used in an election held within [North Dakota] to elect or nominate a candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office.” Any existing “ordinance enacted or adopted” by North Dakota localities that “conflict” with this prohibition is now considered “void” under the new law.

Under RCV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round of voting, the last-place finisher is eliminated, and his votes are reallocated to the voter’s second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority of votes.

Meanwhile, approval voting is a system in which “voters may vote for any number of candidates they choose,” with the candidate “receiving the most votes” being the declared the winner, according to Ballotpedia. Until HB 1297’s enaction, the system was used in the city of Fargo. (Read more from “North Dakota Becomes 15th State To Prohibit Ranked-Choice Voting In Elections” HERE)

Parents Outraged After School Will Keep Kid’s Preferred Gender Identities Under Wraps

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North Dakota parents fumed at a school board after discovering it has kept students’ preferred gender identities under wraps.

Fargo Public Schools publicly announced that they would defy Republican Gov. Doug Burgum’s law that bans such actions in the classroom.

“We will not openly out any student because of one law if we know that that’s going to cause harm to that child,” Fargo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rupak Gandhi said.

The school district, among other schools in the country, has indicated they will allow minors to decide on which gender they, fueling the Left’s radical agenda.

The bill, signed into law this month, bans school boards from instilling policies that require the use of a student’s preferred pronouns, barring schools and teachers from “withhold[ing] or conceal[ing] information about a student’s transgender status from the student’s parent or legal guardian.” (Read more from “Parents Outraged After School Will Keep Kid’s Preferred Gender Identities Under Wraps” HERE)

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Students Nationwide Face Pressure to Become LGBT

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In a small, conservative town in North Dakota, 12-year-old Rebecca has faced unrelenting pressure from friends to announce an LGBT identity. It’s a pressure she doesn’t want or need, according to her mother, Sarah.

The two asked to have their full names withheld to prevent them from being identified, which, they fear, would exacerbate the problem.

Rebecca has helped care for a terminally ill relative, and wants to be a nurse one day, said Sarah. The middle-schooler values her friends and does great in school.

But a few years ago, she was sexually abused by another girl close to her in age, who made unwanted advances and touched her inappropriately, Sarah said. She feels Rebecca isn’t even old enough to mentally process the trauma she experienced.

Among young girls, it’s a common trend now for friend groups to suddenly all announce an LGBT gender identity because it’s cool, experts say. And children often suddenly choose a new gender identity as a result of intense peer pressure, experts say. (Read more from “Students Nationwide Face Pressure to Become LGBT” HERE)

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Big Tech’s Unlikely Next Battleground: North Dakota

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Last month, a lobbyist approached Kyle Davison, a North Dakota state senator, with an unusual proposal: a law to stop Apple and Google from forcing companies in the state to hand over a share of their app sales.

Mr. Davison, a Republican, was focused on bills related to a $200,000 literacy program and birth records for the homeless. But he was intrigued by the lobbyist’s arguments that the tech giants were hurting small businesses, and he thought such a law could attract tech companies to North Dakota. So he introduced it. . .

At the Capitol in Bismarck, a 21-story Art Deco tower that’s the state’s tallest building, a hearing on the bill last week drew Washington lawyers, North Dakota newspapers and Silicon Valley executives. Siding with Apple and Google was Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group funded by the Koch family. On the other side was the Fargo Chamber of Commerce. One person called in from Alaska.

Supporters of the bill said it would help smaller companies and only hurt Apple and Google’s revenues. Apple’s chief privacy engineer, Erik Neuenschwander, testified that the bill “threatens to destroy iPhone as you know it.”

North Dakota is part of a new front in the battle over Big Tech and its power. Frustrated with a lack of action from courts, regulators and Congress, tech rivals and critics are turning their attention to state legislatures, pushing bills that seek to tax the biggest tech companies, rein in their power and limit their control over the internet. (Read more from “Big Tech’s Unlikely Next Battleground: North Dakota” HERE)

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Man in Same-Sex Marriage May Wed Woman Too, Says North Dakota

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Photo Credit: midwest/rgbstock.com

Photo Credit: midwest/rgbstock.com

A man already married to another man in a state that permits same-sex marriage could wed a woman in North Dakota without breaking state laws, the state’s top attorney has found.

The finding raises potentially complex issues about Social Security and death benefits, tax exemptions and even possible prosecutions for bigamy or polygamy, said a constitutional law expert.

Those issues are likely to arise more often with 16 states plus the District of Columbia now recognizing same-sex marriage while a majority of states still ban it, said Jeffrey Shaman, a professor at DePaul University’s College of Law.

The issue came up when a man giving only his first name called Burleigh County Recorder Debbie Kroshus in September to ask if he could marry a woman in North Dakota if he were already married to a man in another state, she said.

“I didn’t ask where this caller was calling from or where he planned on getting a marriage license,” Kroshus said in a telephone interview, adding that it was not possible to determine if the man had applied for a marriage license.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Dakota Governor Signs Law Banning Most Abortions (+video)

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Photo Credit: mobeans

What is being called the nation’s toughest anti-abortion measure — a law that bans most abortions after six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat can be first detected — was signed into law on Tuesday by North Dakota’s governor.

The law sets the stage for an almost guaranteed legal showdown, with proponents saying the law is intended to test the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal.

“Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade,” Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement.

The governor directed the legislature to set aside funds to cover the cost of the expected legal battle, which opponents vowed to mount if the governor signed the measure into law.

“North Dakota’s governor today effectively banned abortion in the state, with an outrageous and unconstitutional law that will not stand,” said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

ND Lawmakers Define Life As Starting At Conception, First Step in Outlawing Abortions

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Photo Credit: The Bismarck Tribune

North Dakota didn’t set out to become the abortion debate’s new epicenter. It happened by accident, after a legislative caucus that once vetted abortion bills languished, leaving lawmakers to propose a flurry of measures — some cribbed from Wikipedia — without roadblocks.

Long dismissed as cold and inconsequential, North Dakota is now trying to enact the toughest abortion restrictions in the nation. The newly oil-rich red state may soon find itself in a costly battle over legislation foes describe as blatantly unconstitutional.

Lawmakers on Friday took a step toward outlawing abortion altogether in the state by passing a so-called personhood resolution that says a fertilized egg has the same right to life as a person. The House’s approval sends the matter to voters, who will decide whether to add the wording to the state’s constitution in November 2014.

It’s one of several anti-abortion measures to pass the Legislature. Most are awaiting the signature of Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who hasn’t yet indicated whether he supports the laws. Even if he were to veto them, some could have the support for the Legislature to override him.

One bill would prohibit abortion if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Another would make North Dakota the only state to prohibit women from having the procedure because a fetus has a genetic defect, such as Down sy “The problem was we could never get all the groups on the same page,” Bismarck Republican Sen. Margaret Sitte said.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Dakota Passes Most Restrictive Abortion Bills In Nation

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Photo Credit: abbybatchelder

North Dakota’s Senate passed a pair of anti-abortion measures Friday that are considered to be the most restrictive in the nation, including one that would prevent women from having an abortion based on a genetic defect.

The measures now to go to Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple who has indicated he will sign them.

The new state laws are even more strict than one finalized last week in Arkansas that would make the procedure illegal after 12 weeks of pregnancy. One North Dakota measure would prevent women from having abortions based on a genetic defect, like Down syndrome. The other would ban doctors from performing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected — as early as five or six weeks.

Republican state Rep. Bette Grande of Fargo sponsored both bills. Grande, a ninth-term legislator, is one of the more conservative lawmakers in the state. She’s pushed for controversial right-to-life issues and has been vocal about the issues.

Grande recently said she had relatives who had children born with genetic abnormalities and has been surprised at the discrimination she’s seen. “It takes you back to Hitler, and we know where that went,” she has said. “He started going after those with abnormalities, and I think it’s an absurdity we would go back to that kind of thing.”

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An Oil Town Where Men Are Many, and Women Are Hounded

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WILLISTON, N.D. — Christina Knapp and a friend were drinking shots at a bar in a nearby town several weeks ago when a table of about five men called them over and made an offer.

They would pay the women $3,000 to strip naked and serve them beer at their house while they watched mixed martial arts fights on television. Ms. Knapp, 22, declined, but the men kept raising the offer, reaching $7,000.

“I said I make more money doing my job than degrading myself to do that,” said Ms. Knapp, a tattoo artist with dark streaks in her light brown hair, a bird tattoo on her chest and piercings above her lip and left cheekbone.

The rich shale oil formation deep below the rolling pastures here has attracted droves of young men to work the labor-intensive jobs that get the wells flowing and often generate six-figure salaries. What the oil boom has not brought, however, are enough single women.

At work, at housing camps and in bars and restaurants, men have been left to mingle with their own. High heels and skirts are as rare around here as veggie burgers. Some men liken the environment to the military or prison.

Read more from this story HERE.