Doug Sharbono
FARGO – Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor – A Fargo Republican will run as a write-in candidate in the District 11 House primary, the same district that Democratic-NPL Rep. Liz Conmy represented before she died in an April plane crash.
Doug Sharbono, a structural engineer, said he thinks Republicans are underrepresented in the Fargo district.
He said Conmy’s death played a small part in deciding to run as a certified write-in candidate, but ultimately, he wanted to fill a Republican slot in a district that didn’t have any Republican candidates for House.
Sharbono has been involved in the North Dakota Republican Party since 2010, including serving as a district chair, and has been involved in legislation as a citizen advocate. He said he’s anti-abortion, a Second Amendment supporter and believes prison is the right place for criminals.
“We need better judicial processes where they don’t let them off with just a slap on the wrist,” Sharbono said. “There’s just some people that don’t deserve to be out in society.”
As a write-in candidate, Sharbono’s name will not be on the ballot and will not appear on the Secretary of State’s Office website.
It will be up to the candidate’s campaign to inform voters to write his name on the ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
He said he plans to door knock with his neighbors ahead of the June 9 primary and do his best to make sure Fargo residents know how to spell his name.
Sharbono will need at least 165 votes to have his name appear as a Republican on the general election ballot.
The 165 votes is equal to the number of signatures a candidate would have needed to get on the ballot before the filing deadline.
The election results for a write-in candidate will not be available until the Cass County canvassing board meets 13 days after the election, Secretary of State Michael Howe said.
No other candidates submitted paperwork by Tuesday’s deadline to be considered write-in candidates for any legislative or statewide office, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
District 11 Democrats are working to appoint someone to fill the remainder of Conmy’s term, which expires Dec. 1.
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