North Dakota Code 16.1-06-04 – Form and quality of ballots generally
1. All official ballots prepared under this title must:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 16.1-06-04
- Ballot: means a paper ballot from which the votes for candidates and questions are tabulated by hand or by a voting system. See North Dakota Code 16.1-06-12
- candidate: means :
- paper: means any flexible material upon which it is usual to write. See North Dakota Code 1-01-27
- Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Voting system: means the system and devices authorized under this chapter which may employ a ballot marking device with use of a touchscreen or other data entry device to record and count votes in an election. See North Dakota Code 16.1-06-12
a. Be printed on uniform quality and color of paper in an ink color suitable to make the ballot clearly legible and compatible with the voting system requirements necessary to tabulate the votes.
b. Be of sufficient length to contain the names of all candidates to be voted for at that election.
c. Have the language “Vote for no more than name (or names)” placed immediately under the name of each office.
d. Have printed on the ballot “To vote for the candidate of your choice, darken the oval next to the name of that candidate. To vote for a person whose name is not printed on the ballot, darken the oval next to the blank line provided and write that person’s name on the blank line.” e. Leave sufficient space for each office to write names in lieu of those printed on the ballot.
f. Have an oval printed preceding and on the same line as the name of each candidate which the voter is to darken to mark the voter’s choice of candidate.
g. Provide text boxes at the bottom of the first side of the ballot. The text box at the bottom of the first column is to contain the words “Official Ballot, the name of the county, the name or number of the precinct, and the date of the election”. The text box is to contain the words “All ballots, other than those used to vote absentee, must first be initialed by appropriate election officials in order to be counted”. The text box at the bottom of the third column is to contain the word “initials” preceded by a blank line where the judge or inspector shall initial the ballot.
2. The ballot must contain the names of all candidates, the contents of measures as required by section 16.1-06-09, and the statements of questions to be submitted to the voters. The ballot must be arranged in a manner and form approximating as far as possible the requirements of this section.