BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – With less than two weeks to go before the general election, state Attorney General Drew Wrigley has issued an opinion regarding proof of citizenship and voting, answering a request made by Cass County State’s Attorney Birch Burdick in July. In the letter, Wrigley says North Dakota law prohibits election officials from requiring a voter to provide documentary proof of citizenship in order to vote.
The issue arose during Fargo’s June primary election, during which some voters’ IDs indicated they were not citizens and questions were raised by poll workers.
In the four-page opinion, Wrigley held that state law does not require an individual who becomes a citizen after receiving a noncitizen license to replace the card – indeed that doing so would require the person to pay a fee – so it is reasonable to conclude that some voters with noncitizen IDs are citizens.
Wrigley also said it is possible the new citizen did not know to inform the state Dept. of Transportation, which serves as one of the information sources for the Secretary of State’s database of voters, of their change in citizenship status, in which case both their ID and the pollbook would erroneously designate the person as a noncitizen.
He noted that if an election official has a nondiscriminatory reason to believe an individual who casts a ballot is not a citizen, the official may make a note and forward the person’s name to the appropriate state’s attorney for review.
The opinion cited the North Dakota Constitution and state Century Code, as well as federal law, including the National Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and related and recent caselaw in the matter.
Early in-person voting starts Monday, October 31 in Cass County. The general election is Tuesday, November 8.
