By Amy Dalrymple | Editor
Greg Lange of Bismarck drops off absentee ballots for himself and his wife at the Bismarck Burleigh County Office Building on June 8, 2026. Absentee ballots for the November election are now available. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jack Dura
North Dakota voters can start receiving and casting absentee ballots for the general election beginning Thursday.
Voters can fill out an absentee ballot application via websites for the secretary of state or their county, or in person at their county auditor’s office. County election officials send voters a ballot after reviewing and verifying their application information, Secretary of State Michael Howe said.
Voters need to return their ballot before polls close on Election Day, Nov. 3. They can return their absentee ballot in person, by mail or county dropbox. Absentee ballots won’t be accepted at the polls on Election Day. Absentee voters should fill out and return their ballots as soon as they can, Howe said.
VOTER GUIDE: Check out the North Dakota Monitor’s voter guide for information on contested statewide and federal races.
Gov. Kelly Armstrong, left, speaks next to Workforce Development Commissioner Katie Ralston Howe during the 2026 Governor’s Workforce Summit at Bismarck State College on Sept. 23, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Michael Achterling
Gov. Kelly Armstrong announced Wednesday the creation of the Department of Workforce Development to streamline workforce programs under one roof.
The department will combine staff and resources from the Department of Commerce’s Workforce Development Division and Job Service North Dakota; the Department of Public Instruction’s adult education program; and the Department of Health and Human Service’s vocational rehabilitation program and Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“One of the things we recognize is we need to better align the systems that North Dakota already has,” Armstrong said during the Governor’s Workforce Summit at Bismarck State College. “I think right now, anybody who is honest about it knows it’s too fragmented.”
A Flock camera monitors passing traffic on Sept. 2, 2026 in Miami. The state department of transportation said this month it will remove license plate readers, such as Flock cameras, from all state highways, citing an increase in reports of misuse of the systems. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By Ariana Figueroa
A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing.
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, said the point of the hearing was to find out “what is going on with the expanding surveillance network that appears to be going coast to coast in this country.”
Hawley said he invited the CEO of Flock Safety to testify, but he did not appear.
Senators heard from a woman wrongly arrested over a fatal car crash after a Flock camera captured a photo of her vehicle three miles from the crash site.
Free school meal ballot measure debated at North Dakota policy summit | Michael Achterling
Sponsor, opponent debate need for North Dakota ballot measure to change constitution | Michael Achterling
North Dakota college enrollment stable | Jeff Beach
FROM STATES NEWSROOM
Historic uptown Butte, Montana. (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).
By Micah Drew
The Montana Supreme Court ruled this week that a Butte-Silver Bow citizens’ initiative to require voter approval of data center construction will appear on the November ballot.
In an order filed Tuesday, the court overturned a decision by the county elections administrator to retroactively change the deadline for submitting signatures for the initiative, which would have left the measure off the ballot.
The measure came from grassroots citizens group, 406 People First, one of two groups seeking oversight of data center construction through ballot measures in Montana, with another in Yellowstone County.
Postal Service’s plan to speed up delivery in South Dakota is a ‘good first step,’ US senator says | South Dakota Searchlight
Justin Trudeau says Trump’s ‘win-lose’ approach is hurting U.S.-Canada relations | Rhode Island Current
FROM OTHER ND MEDIA OUTLETS
Some stories may require a paid subscription.
Thanks for reading North Dakota Monitor. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.