More than 18,000 North Dakotans have already cast their vote this fall, Secretary of State Al Jaeger said Thursday.
As of 11:45 a.m. Thursday morning, county auditors across the state had mailed out 51,493 ballots for the Nov. 2 election. Of those, 18,638 or about 36 percent have been returned to county auditors.
The totals include both absentee ballots and ballots that were sent out from counties that rely on voting by mail, a method that was approved under a 2007 bill passed by the state Legislature that requires no more than one polling site in the county to be open on Election Day.
Jaeger said 31,274 ballots have been sent out by vote-by-mail counties and, so far, 10,016 have been returned. That's 32 percent of the total.
And 20,219 absentee ballots have been sent out by other counties. Of those, 43 percent, or 8,667, have been returned.
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All together, Jaeger said, the numbers show that 18,683 North Dakotans had already cast their vote by today -- more than two weeks before Election Day.
Hoeven endorses D-43 republicans
Republican Gov. John Hoeven has endorsed three Republican candidates seeking to represent Grand Forks in the North Dakota Legislature, according to a campaign news release.
Hoeven has endorsed state Senate candidate Lonnie Laffen and state House candidates Curt Kreun and Don Dietrich. They're campaigning to represent District 43, which includes most of southwestern Grand Forks.
The Republicans are running against Democratic-NPL incumbents Rep. Lois Delmore and Sen. JoNell Bakke, as well as Democratic-NPL state House candidate Don Vangsnes.
Horner endorsed by hospital association
A hospital association Thursday endorsed Independence Party candidate Tom Horner in the Minnesota governor race.
He's running against Republican candidate Tom Emmer and DFL candidate Mark Dayton.
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In a written statement, Horner said he was "proud" to get the support of the Minnesota Hospital political action committee.
"Minnesota is in critical condition, state hospital leaders understand that," he wrote. "Their endorsement speaks volumes about the importance of enacting reasonable, common-sense solutions to the devastating budget deficit facing our state."
Horner has also received the endorsement of the Minnesota Medical Association political action committee.
Reach Johnson at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or send e-mail to rjohnson@gfherald.com .
