MINOT — Thursday brought news that
not every eligible voter was able to cast a ballot
in the Surrey School District’s narrowly defeated bond measure because an error by election officials didn’t put the question on all of the ballots.
The district covers parts of Ward and McLean counties in central North Dakota. Secretary of State Michael Howe told me previously that there was a street segment covering nine eligible voters that wasn’t marked as belonging to the school district during a manual entry process. After his office reviewed the matter further, it was found that more voters were impacted.
Howe said that 29 eligible voters in 13 households on eight street segments were impacted by the error, and 12 of them cast ballots that did not have the bond question on them. Had all 12 of those ballots been cast in favor of the school bond, which failed by five votes, it would have passed narrowly. Under state law, school bond questions must receive at least 60% of the vote to pass.
“I’m sick to my stomach,” Howe told me in a phone interview.
The measure would have authorized the district to issue up to $5.8 million in bonds to fund a classroom addition to the existing school building, as well as make other improvements, renovations and upgrades, according to the text of the ballot measure.
Howe has sent a letter to Alyssa Brennen, the business manager for the school district, alerting her of the new findings.
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“This review leaves me incredibly frustrated, and I am terribly sorry that the impact this mistake may have on the Surrey School District, the town of Surrey, and neighboring communities and businesses,” Howe wrote. “Our office takes great pride in working with our partners in all 53 counties to ensure every eligible voter has the ability to participate and elect leaders, as well as deciding questions posed to the citizens of each jurisdiction. Put simply, the oversight of the North Dakota Secretary of State’s office and McHenry County has failed you in this.”
Howe indicated to me Thursday that the manual entry of this data happens on the county letter, but he acknowledged to me Friday that a member of his office’s staff did assist the county.
“The public deserves to know how a mistake like this can happen and how it will not be repeated for future elections,” he wrote in the letter to Brennen. “This error occurred because a member of our team did not do their due diligence in working with McHenry County to make corrections to new street segments for 2026. They mistakenly reviewed city boundaries and did not place those households outside the city boundaries into the Surrey School District.”
“That member of our team is no longer an employee of the North Dakota Secretary of State’s office,” he continued. Howe’s office clarified that this person had left his office prior to the error being discovered.
It’s not clear what remedies are available to address this matter. As I noted previously, the law does allow for an election to be contested once the results are certified. That challenge takes place in the form of a hearing before a judge, but if the judge finds there has been errors or fraud, the only provided option they have is to vacate the election.
Were this a candidate election, the laws governing the filling of vacancies kick in, but this was a ballot question, and there’s no provision I can find for calling a new special election. Further, state law prohibits school bond questions from going on any ballot other than June or November primary ballots.
“In our previous conversations with you we discussed options for contesting the 2026 Election with the court system. Our office will comply with all requests by a court,” Howe wrote to Brennen. “Should you choose to contest this election under NDCC Chapter 16.1-16, I will author a letter to the courts to support your efforts.”
“Indeed, it is speculative on how those 12 voters would have voted if given the opportunity to weigh in on the ballot question, just as it is speculative if others would have participated if they knew the question would be on their ballot,” Howe continued. “What is certain is that they were not given a choice at all, and for that I apologize with all my heart.”
In a message
posted to the district’s website,
Superintendent Steven Bucks thanked voters, teachers, staff and students, adding the school is not closing despite the outcome.
Rob Port is a news reporter, columnist, and podcast host for the Forum News Service with an extensive background in investigations and public records. He covers politics and government in North Dakota and the upper Midwest. Reach him at rport@forumcomm.com. Click here to subscribe to his Plain Talk podcast.