ALVIN A.

JAEGER PHONE (701) 328-2900

SECRETARY OF STATE EMAIL sos@nd.gov

WEBSITE sos.nd.gov

SECRETARY OF STATE
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA
600 EAST BOULEVARD AVENUE DEPT 108
BISMARCK ND 58505-0500

May 23, 2022

Michael J Haugen
Chairman
Sponsoring Committee
1124 5th Street N
Fargo ND 58102-3713

Dear Mr. Haugen,

On April 22, 2022, I accepted delivery of 914 petitions related to requiring a sixty percent majority vote to
approve constitutional amendments and to limit petitions to one subject. The petitions contained 31,622
signatures.

For an initiated constitutional petition to be placed on a ballot, it must be signed by electors equal in number
to four percent of the population of the State of North Dakota, which is 31,164 signatures. According to the
North Dakota Constitution, Article Ill, Section 3, petitions may only be circulated by electors and each
elector must swear that the signatures were affixed in their presence.

By state law, N.D.C.C. § 16.1-01-10, the Secretary of State has a reasonable period, not to exceed thirty­
five days, to pass upon the sufficiency of the petitions. During the review of the petitions, there were 5,738
signatures not counted reducing the number of accepted signatures to 25,884. Because this is an
insufficient number, I will not certify the measure for placement on the November ballot.

The reasons for which individual signatures and entire petitions have been excluded include (see attached
detailed summary):

• Ten petitions were not counted because they were not circulated in their entirety.
• Petitions circulated by three circulators were not counted because of similar writing styles;
numerous odd city abbreviations and misspellings of Bismarck; contained names of
individuals (one misspelled) who confirmed they had not signed the petitions; circulator
signed several petitions; and circulator used several different addresses as their legal
residential address.
• Petitions included signatures from residents of other states in violation of N.D.C.C. § 16.1-
01-09(2).
• On the petition, signers are required by law to print their name, affix their signature, and
provide a complete address, as witnessed by the circulator. Signatures that did not meet
all aspects of this requirement (e.g., incomplete addresses) were not counted.

Additionally, as required by N.D.C.C. § 16.1-01-10, I must report all violations to the Attorney General.

Sincerely,

�b�
Secretary of State

Cc Jeffry S Zarling
Summary attached
Total Number of Signatures Required by North Dakota Constitution 31,164

Estimated Number of Signatures Submitted by Sponsoring Committee on April 22, 2022 33,624

Actual Number of Signatures Submitted by Sponsoring Committee on April 22, 2022 31,622

Summary of Rejected Signatures

Petition Not Circulated in its Entirety 347

Inadequate Signature 941

(Examples of inadequate signatures are when a notary or circulator sign their own petition, the signature doesn't include a first or
last name, a person signed the petition twice, signatures were obtained before the approval date of the petition or after the
notarization date of the document, or the signer failed to print their name as required by law)

Out-of-State Address or missing both city and zip code 99

No Date (In the beginning or end of the petition) 63

Notary Errors and Circulator Violations 2102

(Examples of notary errors: fails to affix notary stamp; does not complete the entire notary venue; and does not sign the
document. Examples of circulator violations are when signatures are affixed to a petition by someone other than the qualified
elector.)
Circulator Information Incomplete 1520
(Example is when a circulator fails to fill in their complete residential address)
Address Omissions 666

Total Number of Rejected Signatures 5,738

Total Number of Signatures Accepted 25,884

Difference Between Required Number of Signatures and Accepted Number of Signatures -5,280