13 Nov Voting is official, the incumbents dominate ballots
Bowman and Slope counties made the Nov. 3 election official – almost a week later.
The canvassing board certified the vote tallies as official Monday, Nov. 9, in both counties.
The voters in both counties said yes to incumbents at the county, state and national levels, while also saying no to ballot measures.
The final results were posted by the state.
Bowman County results
Three incumbent Bowman County commissioners on the ballot will be returning again, with Rick Braaten getting the most votes (1,401), followed by Pine Abrahamson (1,301) and Jerry Jeffers (1,266). There were 77 write-in votes.
Locally, the state measures on the ballot were soundly defeated.
Constitutional measure number 1 would have increased the number of members on the state board of higher education from eight to 15, along with prohibiting state legislators and other state employees from serving on the board.
In Bowman County, the measure wasn’t even close, losing by almost a 3 to 1 margin. Only 333 voted for the measure, while there were 1,219 votes against it.
The second measure on the ballot, Constitutional Measure 2, also lost by a large margin with only 448 people voting for it. The measure would have allowed petitions for constitutional amendments to be submitted to the secretary of state and could be put on the ballot for a general election.
More than three-quarters of Bowman County voters want incumbent Gov. Doug Burgum and his lieutenant governor, Brent Sanford, to remain in office. The republican duo finished with 76 percent of the county votes (1,254), beating out Shelly Lenz and Ben Vig of the Democratic-NPL with just 177 votes. There were 158 write-in votes while Libertarians DuWayne Hendrickson and Joshua Voytek had 53 votes for just 3.24 percent of the total votes.
In the race for state auditor, Republican Joshua Gallion had 1,355 Bowman County votes while Patrick Hart of the Democratic-NPL had 257 county votes.
In the race for state treasurer, Republican Thomas Beadle easily dominated in Bowman County getting 1,298 votes. Democratic-NPL candidate Mark Haugen had 308 county votes.
There was only one person on the state ballot for insurance commissioner, with Republican Jon Godfread getting 1,518 votes.
In the race for Public Service Commissioner, Republican Brian Kroshus had 1,325 votes, with Democratic-NPL candidate getting 262 votes.
In the race for the Superintendent of Public Instruction, incumbent Kirsten Baesler had 1,025 of the county votes, while Brandt Dick was far behind with 520.
Jon Jay Jensen, running unopposed for the Justice of the Supreme Court, got 99.79 percent of the 1,460 total votes.
National level
Bowman County was decidedly Trump Country Tuesday with 1,395 of the 1,657 votes going to the Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the Democratic-NPL ticket finished with 228 votes. The Libertarian Party ticket of Jo Jorgensen and Jeremy Cohen finished with 30 votes in Bowman County.
Republican Congressman Kerry Armstrong easily was the top vote getter for the only congressional seat in the state. The incumbent had 1,413 of the county votes, while Zach Raknerud of the Democrat-NPL was second with 195 votes. Libertarian Steven James Peterson got 36 votes in the county to finish with 2.19 percent.
Slope County results
Incumbent Scott Ouradnik held on to his seat as a Slope County Commissioner, getting nearly 60 percent of the vote. He finished with 234 votes, while Len Sadler was second with 164 votes.
In a battle of write-ins for the supervisor position on the Bowman/Slope Soil Conservation District, it was Vern Brown getting the most votes with 12.
Len Sadler was second with five votes, beating out Ernie Holzemer and David Septon with both getting three votes each. Jimmy Carroll, Leroy Clendenen and Farrell Lorge each had two votes.
In a race for the supervisor position on the Slope/Hettinger Soil Conservation District, it was Keith Witte getting 133 of the 135 total votes.
In the two constitutional measures on the statewide ballot, both lost be lopsided margins in Slope County.
Measure 1 got only 72 out of the 398 votes, while Measure 2 was a little closer, but had 61 percent vote against it.
Nationally, the incumbent Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence had 379 votes, while the Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris Democratic ticket picked up 44 votes for just over 10 percent. The Libertarian Party ticket got just two votes in Slope County.
In the congressional race, incumbent Kelly Armstrong got 376 votes in Slope County, while 37 voters selected Zach Raknerud of the Democratic-NPL party. Libertarian Steven James Peterson had seven votes.
In the gubernatorial race, incumbents Doug Burgum and Brent Sanford got 328 votes in Slope County, while the Democratic-NPL tandem of Shelley Lenz and Ben Vig finished with 40 votes. Libertarians DuWayne Hendrickson and Joshua Voytek had 16 votes in Slope County.
Republican Joshua Gallion finished with 370 of 419 votes from Slope County, while Patrick Hart (D-NPL) finished with 49 votes.
Republican Thomas Beadle won the lion’s share of votes in Slope County, getting 350 in the race for state treasurer, while Mark Haugen (D-NPL) had 66 votes.
Republican Jon Godfread got all but five of the 383 votes in Slope County, finishing with 378 in the race for insurance commissioner.
Brian Krosus, a republican, picked up 365 votes in Slope County, easily beating Casey Buchmann (D-NPL) who finished with 51 votes.
In the race for the state superintendent of public instruction, incumbent Kirten Baesler finished with 268 votes in the county, while Brandt Dick had 132.
Jon Jay Jensen had 355 of the 358 votes for the berth as justice of the state Supreme Court.
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