Mountrail County Promoter - Latest News

Voters across Mountrail County and the state will head to the polls on Tuesday, June 9 for the Primary Election, city and school elections. While the Primary Election will narrow down the field of candidates in some races, city and school elections will be the final results. Additionally, there is one statewide measure and some city measures that will be determined in the June 9 election.
People can go to vote.nd.gov/myvotinginfo to request an application for an absentee ballot and find voting information specific to their address, including polling locations and times and whether their county offers early voting. They can also view a sample of their Primary Election ballot.
As voters head to the polls, they will again have the option to vote at any of the polling locations when it comes to national, state, or county elections. Mountrail County used voting centers for the last two election cycles. Poll workers at each location will have all of the ballots for each of the various designated precincts, however school board elections will be held at the proper location for each school.
Voting centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Centers are located in the Stanley High School Commons Area, New Town City offices, Parshall American Legion Building, Palermo Corporation Building, Ross Community Building, Plaza Mountrail County R&B Complex, White Earth City Hall and Mountrail County South Complex. Ballots and voting center information are located elsewhere in this week’s paper.
As long as a voter is a Mountrail County resident and has the proper identification, they will be allowed to vote at any center. A North Dakota driver licenses, nondriver ID card, Tribal government issued ID document and long term care identification certificate are the primary methods of identification that are used when voting.
North Dakota has a voter ID law that requires people to have a valid form of identification to vote. This can be a North Dakota driver’s license, North Dakota non-driver ID, Tribal ID or letter, or long term care certificate. To streamline the voting process, people are encouraged to make sure their ID information is updated before election day if they have moved or renewed if they have an expired ID. Address changes to North Dakota driver’s licenses and non-driver IDs can be made online through the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) website or by calling 701-328-4353.
Voters in Mountrail County will see races for the following statewide positions. In the Primary Election, voters can only vote one party in the Republican and Democratic races.
Filing for Representative in Congress are Republicans Alex Balazs and Julie Fedorchak, and Democrat Trygve Hammer. Only one of the two Republican candidates will advance to the November general election.
Michael Howe (R) and Ryan Braunberger (D) are seeking the Secretary of State position.
Running for Attorney General are Drew Wrigley (R) and Tim Lamb (D).
Doug Goehring (R) and Vern Thompson (D) are running for Agriculture Commissioner.
Republicans Deven Styczynski and Sheri Haugen-Hoffart, and Democrat John Pederson are running for Public Service Commissioner, 6 year-term. Again, only the top vote-getter of the Republican Party candidates will advance to the November general election.
Running for the unexpired two year term on the Public Service Commission are Chris Olson (R), Jill Kringstad (R), and Scott Kelsh (D). Only the top-vote getter between Olson and Kringstad will advance to November.
Running for Tax Commissioner are Brian Kroshus (R) and Mark Nelson (D).
There are three candidates seeking the unexpired two-year term of the Superintendent of Public Instruction: Charles Tuttle, Levi Bachmeier and Tracy Layne Foss. The top two in the primary election will advance to November.
Seeking election for the Justice of the Supreme Court, ten-year term, are Ariston E Johnson and Jerod Tufte.
Seeking election for an unexpired eight-year term as Justice of the Supreme Court is Douglas A Bahr.
Three candidates are seeking election to the Mountrail County Commissioner District 2 position: Beau Vachal, Gary Friesen and Gary Schell. The top two vote-getters will advance to the November election.
In the Commissioner District 3 race, there are also three candidates: Jake Estvold, Troy Walters and Trudy Ruland. Only the top two will advance to November.
One more race will be contested, this time for County Sheriff as Corey Bristol and Joel Shaffett are both on the ballot.
John DeGroot is running unopposed for the County Commissioner District 4. Other unopposed races are Stephanie A Pappa for County Auditor, Amber J Fiesel for County State’s Attorney, Melissa Vachal for County Recorder, Jessica Niemitalo for County Treasurer, and the Mountrail County Promoter for County Official Newspaper.
New Town will elect a mayor, with Jay Standish running. They will elect two council members, Frank Sillitti and Jesse Baker on the ballot. Taylor Olson is running for the position of Municipal Judge. They will elect three park board members with Kenneth Hough and Marty Danks on the ballot. The third position will be determined by write-in votes.
The City of Palermo will elect two council members with Kenny Meckle, Kevin Marmon and Robert Hamers on the ballot.
Parshall will be electing a mayor with Kyle Christianson on the ballot. Two council members will be elected with Barry Martens, Jeff McDougald, Robert Morenski and Roberta Whitman on the ballot. They will also elect two park board members with Chris Kolk and Jacobi Taft on the ballot.
Plaza is slated to elect two council members with just Darrell Salter on the ballot, meaning the second position will be determined by write-in. They also need to fill one park board position with no names on the ballot. That seat will also be determined by write-in vote.
Ross will elect a mayor with Julie Woodbury on the ballot. They will also elect two council members, which will be elected by write-in as no candidates are on the ballot.
In the City of Stanley, Marlin Ranum is running for mayor. With three council seats up for election, Darren LeRohl, Jesse Weyrauch and Kris Halvorson are running. There are also three park board members to be elected with Christopher Schneider, David Brown and Matthew Meiers running. With no candidates on the ballot for municipal judge, that seat will be determined by write-in.
White Earth will be electing two council members for four-year terms with Gary Fladeland and Jerald Ogden on the ballot. They will also elect one council member to fill an unexpired two-year term with Brenda Rohde and Rebecca Fladeland on the ballot.
There is one statewide measure on the ballot. Initiated Constitutional Measure No. 1 was placed on the ballot by action of the 2025 North Dakota Legislative Assembly with passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4007 (2025 Session Laws, Chapter 610). If approved, this constitutional measure would amend and reenact section 9 of article III and section 16 of article IV of the Constitution of North Dakota, relating to requiring each resolution adopted by the legislative assembly proposing a constitutional amendment and each initiative petition and measure proposing a constitutional amendment be comprised of a single subject. The proposed amendment would require constitutional amendments to be limited to one subject. The Secretary of State shall not approve an initiative petition for circulation if the Secretary determines that the proposed amendment comprises more than one subject. Additionally, the legislative assembly is required to limit proposed amendments to the constitution to one subject. The estimated fiscal impact of this measure is none. Voting “YES” means you approve the measure summarized above. Voting “NO” means you reject the measure summarized above.
Voters in Stanley will see one measure on their ballot to extend the city sales and use tax as allowed by the Home Rule Charter. The tax is currently set to expire on December 31, 2026. The measure would authorize another term of six (6) years from the date of the passage of the measure, ending December 31, 2032. A “yes” vote means you approve the continuation of the 1½% city sales and use tax for an additional six years. A “no” vote means you do not approve the continuation of the 1½% city sales and use tax.
Ross voters will have a city measure regarding publication of minutes. A “yes” vote means you approve the publication while a “no” vote means you reject the publication.
New Town School District voters will be electing two board members. Douglas Bratvold is on the ballot to represent the City Area #1 and Pete Young Bird is on the ballot to represent the west area.
Parshall School District voters will be electing two board members from the rural district with Anissa Hove, Shaun Packineau, Adam Naatz, Bandi Poitra and Nathaniel Packineau on the ballot.
Stanley School District voters will be electing two board members with Deanna Kukowski on the ballot for Area 2 and Matthew Ruland on the ballot for Area 3.