VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The following is a news release by North Dakota House Representative Dwight Kiefert of Valley City.
“In visiting with people in our district, there seems to be many questions regarding the redistricting and why we are having another Legislative election when we just had one in 2020. First let’s talk a little about what redistricting means. Every State is divided into Legislative Districts based on their population to attempt to have an equal number of people in each voting district. This is one of the reasons for the census. Every 10 years after the census the boundaries of each district are accessed and redrawn to keep the population equal in each district.
In North Dakota we have 47 Legislative districts having a Senator and two representatives in each district. Some of the larger cities have many districts to keep the population equal in each one. For instance, Fargo has 10 Legislative districts. This gives the cities a lot of influence. District 24 boundaries were changed to move the eastern boundary out of Cass County that now would include all of Barnes County. The southern border was moved to include the southern part of Ransom County making the entire county in District 24.
The new Redistricted District 24 now had three Representatives living in its new boundaries. The third being from the portion of Ransom County that was moved into the New District 24. This presence of three Representatives triggered a Legislative Election because every district can have only two Representatives. The election would not be just between the three Representatives but would be open to anyone. The new boundaries did not encompass another Senator so there was no need to have a Senatorial election leaving the present Senator in place to serve out his remaining two years. In 2024 all three positions will be up for election.
When you run for the Legislature, there are two ways to get your name on the Primary Ballot. Either by being endorsed by the district through an endorsement convention, or by filing a petition with the Secretary of State and collecting the required signatures to be placed on the ballot. I have chosen to not seek the party endorsement and file a petition and submit the required signatures. I hope this answers most of your questions regarding this process but if you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 701-490-0443 or email me at dhkiefert@nd.gov
I’m looking forward to continue serving you in our State Legislature.”
Representative Dwight Kiefert