Two Voting Firsts in One Election - Fargo, ND
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m&m O
N 46° 52.326 W 096° 47.586
14T E 668178 N 5193315
This location is the voting box at the Cass County Courthouse.
Waymark Code: WM12KKZ
Location: North Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 06/11/2020
Views: 3
Two voting first happen this election day, the first time Fargo used mail-in and drop-off voting only and the first local contest to use approval voting.
For the first time in history voters in Fargo and all of Cass County were not able to vote at polling locations. All votes had to be mailed in or dropped off at the secure outdoor voting book at the county courthouse. This change was instituted to help with social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. North Dakota has loosened restrictions but most poll workers in this area are older people, who are more likely to be susceptible to the virus.
The second First was written about by Thomas Evanella in The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead;
FARGO — The city of Fargo made election history Tuesday, June 9, in becoming the first city in the United States to use approval voting in a municipal election, according to an electoral reform group.
Approval voting became the standard for Fargo’s City Commission elections in 2018, when voters overwhelmingly passed a referendum in support of the change. The voting method allows voters to choose all of the candidates they approve of in a given race.
“It’s exciting that we got to leave our mark towards hopefully making elections better in our region and around the country,” said Jed Limke, who organized Reform Fargo, a group that pushed for the change. “To be the first city to do this is a really big deal.”
Limke also served on the Governance and Elections Task Force, which recommended approval voting.
Tuesday’s City Commission election was the first municipal race to feature approval voting, according to the Center For Election Science, an advocacy group that promotes changes aimed at creating consensus in election results. Source (
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