North Dakota Won't Get Limit On Time For Absentee Ballots

The ND House voted down HB1238 today, introduced by Rep. Ben Koppelman, which would have limited the distribution of absentee ballots to “no earlier than 20 days before the election.”

The bill was voted down on a 30 – 63 vote.

Koppelman’s bill was just one of five bills introduced in this legislative by Republicans to strengthen the state’s voting laws (I’ll admit, Koppelman’s was my least favorite of the lot). You can read my summary of the bills here.

Other ideas are changing the residency requirement from 30 days before election day to 70 days before absentee ballots are distributed, cutting early voting days down from 15 to 7, a prohibition on counting a voter’s ballot until that voter has proved his/her identity with a valid ID and requiring election officials to appoint someone to be specifically in charge of ballot security.