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CHAPTER 16.1-13GENERAL ELECTIONS16.1-13-01. Date of general election. The general election must be held in all theelection districts of this state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each<br>even-numbered year.16.1-13-02. Officers to be elected at general election. All elective state, district, andcounty officers, and the United States senators, and the members of the United States house of<br>representatives, must be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of the term<br>of each such officer. In a year when a president and vice president of the United States are to be<br>chosen, a number of presidential electors equal to the number of senators and representatives to<br>which this state is entitled in the Congress of the United States must be elected at such general<br>election.16.1-13-03. Secretary of state to give notice to county auditor of officers to beelected. Not later than seventy days prior to the date of election, the secretary of state shall<br>direct and cause to be delivered to the county auditor of each county a notice specifying each<br>officer to be chosen at the next general election. The publication of the sample ballot by the<br>county auditor constitutes the notice of the secretary of state in regard to the offices and<br>candidates to be voted upon at the general election.16.1-13-04.Candidates' names placed on official general election ballot.Thenames of all candidates of each political party or principle or no-party designation, who are<br>shown to have been nominated for the several offices in accordance with the certificates of<br>nomination filed in the secretary of state's office, must be placed by the secretary of state on the<br>official ballot to be voted for at the next general election.16.1-13-05. Notice of election - Contents - Publication with sample ballot. Notice ofall general elections must be published by the county auditor in the official county newspaper at<br>the same time as, and as a part of, the publication of the sample ballot preceding the election.<br>The notice must be substantially as follows:Notice is given that on Tuesday, November ______, ___, at the polling places in the<br>various precincts in the county of _______________, an election will be held for the<br>election of state, district, and county officers, which election will be opened at<br>________ a.m. and will continue open until ________ p.m. of that day with the following<br>exceptions:______________________________________________________________<br>______________________________________________________________<br>Dated ______________, _______Signed _____________________________________County AuditorThe county auditor shall publish a copy of the sample ballot of the general election once each<br>week for two consecutive weeks before the election in the official county newspaper.If nonewspaper is published in the county, the publication must be in a newspaper published in an<br>adjoining county in the state. The form of the sample ballot as ordered and arranged by the<br>county auditor must conform in all respects to the form prescribed by the secretary of state for<br>the sample general election ballot. The county auditor shall publish the sample ballot in all forms<br>appropriate for the method or methods of voting in the county. Absentee voter ballots may not<br>be considered in determining which form of voting is used. Candidates from each legislative<br>district which falls within the boundaries of the county must be listed in a separate box or<br>category within the sample ballot by legislative district number to enable the voters in each<br>legislative district to ascertain the legislative candidates in their specific district. Sample ballots<br>used for publication purposes must be arranged using the rotation of the ballot in the precinct in<br>the county which cast the highest total vote for governor at the last general election at which thePage No. 1office of governor was filled. The notice must include a statement in substantially the following<br>format:The arrangement of candidate names appearing on ballots in your precinct may vary<br>from the published sample ballots, depending upon the precinct and legislative<br>district in which you reside.16.1-13-06. Defeated primary candidate ineligible to have name printed on generalballot - Exception. Except to fill a vacancy occurring on the ballot, an individual who was a<br>candidate for nomination by any party or a candidate for a no-party office at any primary election<br>in any year and who was defeated for the nomination may not have that individual's name printed<br>upon the official ballot at the ensuing general election for the same office.16.1-13-07.Preparation, printing, distributing, canvassing, and returning ofno-party ballot. The no-party ballot must be prepared, printed, distributed, canvassed, and<br>returned in the same manner provided for other general election ballots.16.1-13-08.Filling vacancy in office of United States senator.When a vacancyoccurs in the office of United States senator from this state, the governor shall issue a writ of<br>election to fill the vacancy at the next statewide primary or general election, whichever occurs<br>first, and that occurs at least ninety days after the vacancy. However, if the next primary or<br>general election at which the vacancy could be filled occurs in the year immediately preceding<br>the expiration of the term, then no election may be held. The governor, by appointment, may fill<br>the vacancy temporarily, but any person so appointed shall serve only until the vacancy is filled<br>by election or until the term expires if no election can be held.16.1-13-08.1.Special election to fill a vacancy in the United States House ofRepresentatives due to a catastrophic circumstance. If a vacancy occurs in the office of<br>representative in Congress due to a catastrophic circumstance in which one hundred or more<br>representatives across the United States are no longer able to serve and the next regular or<br>special election is more than seventy-five days in the future, the governor shall immediately issue<br>a writ of election calling a special election to fill the vacancy. The date of the election shall be<br>forty-nine days from the date of the proclamation and the following deadlines shall apply:1.Certificate of endorsement as described in section 16.1-11-09, affidavits of<br>candidacy described in section 16.1-11-10, and statements of interest described in<br>section 16.1-09-03 for those candidates nominated by political parties currently<br>established in the state shall be filed with the secretary of state by four p.m. on the<br>fortieth day before the election.2.If the election occurs in an election year, the precincts previously established by the<br>county shall be utilized.3.If the election occurs in a year without a scheduled election, the board of county<br>commissioners must establish the precinct boundaries by the fortieth day before the<br>election.4.The secretary of state shall certify to the county auditors the names of the<br>candidates for the election on the thirty-ninth day before the election.5.Absentee ballots shall be made available to qualified electors by the thirtieth day<br>before the election.16.1-13-09.Resignation of members of legislative assembly after certificate ofelection.Any person who receives a certificate of election as a member of the legislativeassembly may resign such office although the person may not have entered upon the execution<br>of the duties thereof nor taken the requisite oath of office.16.1-13-10. Vacancy existing in office of member of legislative assembly.Page No. 21.If a vacancy in the office of a member of the legislative assembly occurs, the county<br>auditor of the county in which the former member resides or resided shall notify the<br>chairman of the legislative management of the vacancy. The county auditor need<br>not notify the chairman of the legislative management of the resignation of a<br>member of the legislative assembly when the resignation was made under section<br>44-02-02. Upon receiving notification of a vacancy, the chairman of the legislative<br>management shall notify the district committee of the political party that the former<br>member represented in the district in which the vacancy exists.The districtcommittee shall hold a meeting within twenty-one days after receiving the<br>notification and select an individual to fill the vacancy. If the former member was<br>elected as an independent candidate or if the district committee does not make an<br>appointment within twenty-one days after receiving the notice from the chairman of<br>the legislative management, the chairman of the legislative management shall<br>appoint a resident of the district to fill the vacancy.Except as provided insubsection 2, if eight hundred twenty-eight days or more remain until the expiration<br>of the term of office for that office, the individual appointed to fill the vacancy shall<br>serve until a successor is elected at and qualified following the next general election<br>or special election called by the governor according to subsection 2 to serve for the<br>remainder of the term of office for that office.2.The qualified electors of a legislative district in which a vacancy in the legislative<br>assembly occurs may petition for a special election to be called by the governor to fill<br>the vacancy. The petition must include the signatures of qualified electors equal in<br>number to four percent of the resident population of the legislative district as<br>determined by the last federal decennial census and must be presented to the<br>secretary of state within thirty days following an appointment being made according<br>to subsection 1.If the secretary of state determines the petition contains therequired number of signatures of qualified electors of the affected legislative district,<br>the secretary of state shall notify the governor that a special election is required to<br>be called to fill the vacancy. Upon receiving such notice, the governor shall issue a<br>writ of election directed to the county auditor of each affected county commanding<br>the county auditor to hold a special election to fill the vacancy at a time designated<br>by the governor.A special election under this section must conform to theapplicable election deadlines found in this title and may be called to coincide with a<br>regularly scheduled primary or general election provided the special election is<br>called by the fifteenth day before the deadline for candidates to file for office before a<br>regularly scheduled primary or general election.A special election under thissection may not be scheduled to occur during the time from a general election<br>through eighty days following the adjournment of the next ensuing regular session of<br>the legislative assembly.3.The secretary of state must be notified of an appointment made by a district<br>committee or the chairman of the legislative management according to this section.<br>Upon notification, the secretary of state shall issue the appointee a certificate of<br>appointment and an oath of office for the appointee to complete and file with the<br>secretary of state.16.1-13-11.Vacancy occurring in legislative assembly during session - Duty ofgovernor. Repealed by S.L. 2001, ch. 209, <meta property="og:url" content="https://statutes.laws.com/test/" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Statutes" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2019-12-27T23:25:16+00:00" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <h2>State Codes and Statutes</h2> <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/'>Statutes</a> > <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/north-dakota'>North-dakota</a> > <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/north-dakota/t161'>T161</a> > <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/north-dakota/t161/t161c13'>T161c13</a><br><br><a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/north-dakota/2009/t161/pdf/t161c13.pdf">Download pdf</a><br><div id="embed_document" style="width:625px; height:815px; text-align:center;">Loading PDF...</div><script type="text/javascript"> var pdf_url = 'https://law.justia.com/codes/north-dakota/2009/t161/pdf/t161c13.pdf'; $(document).ready(function() { var embedwindow = $("#embed_document"); if ($.browser.msie){ embedwindow.html('<embed src="'+pdf_url+'" width="100%" height="100%"></embed>'); } else { embedwindow.html('<iframe style="width:100%; height:100%;" src="https://docs.google.com/gview?url='+window.escape(pdf_url)+'&embedded=true" frameborder="0"></iframe>'); } });</script><br><br><noframes>CHAPTER 16.1-13GENERAL ELECTIONS16.1-13-01. Date of general election. The general election must be held in all theelection districts of this state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each<br>even-numbered year.16.1-13-02. Officers to be elected at general election. All elective state, district, andcounty officers, and the United States senators, and the members of the United States house of<br>representatives, must be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of the term<br>of each such officer. In a year when a president and vice president of the United States are to be<br>chosen, a number of presidential electors equal to the number of senators and representatives to<br>which this state is entitled in the Congress of the United States must be elected at such general<br>election.16.1-13-03. Secretary of state to give notice to county auditor of officers to beelected. Not later than seventy days prior to the date of election, the secretary of state shall<br>direct and cause to be delivered to the county auditor of each county a notice specifying each<br>officer to be chosen at the next general election. The publication of the sample ballot by the<br>county auditor constitutes the notice of the secretary of state in regard to the offices and<br>candidates to be voted upon at the general election.16.1-13-04.Candidates' names placed on official general election ballot.Thenames of all candidates of each political party or principle or no-party designation, who are<br>shown to have been nominated for the several offices in accordance with the certificates of<br>nomination filed in the secretary of state's office, must be placed by the secretary of state on the<br>official ballot to be voted for at the next general election.16.1-13-05. Notice of election - Contents - Publication with sample ballot. Notice ofall general elections must be published by the county auditor in the official county newspaper at<br>the same time as, and as a part of, the publication of the sample ballot preceding the election.<br>The notice must be substantially as follows:Notice is given that on Tuesday, November ______, ___, at the polling places in the<br>various precincts in the county of _______________, an election will be held for the<br>election of state, district, and county officers, which election will be opened at<br>________ a.m. and will continue open until ________ p.m. of that day with the following<br>exceptions:______________________________________________________________<br>______________________________________________________________<br>Dated ______________, _______Signed _____________________________________County AuditorThe county auditor shall publish a copy of the sample ballot of the general election once each<br>week for two consecutive weeks before the election in the official county newspaper.If nonewspaper is published in the county, the publication must be in a newspaper published in an<br>adjoining county in the state. The form of the sample ballot as ordered and arranged by the<br>county auditor must conform in all respects to the form prescribed by the secretary of state for<br>the sample general election ballot. The county auditor shall publish the sample ballot in all forms<br>appropriate for the method or methods of voting in the county. Absentee voter ballots may not<br>be considered in determining which form of voting is used. Candidates from each legislative<br>district which falls within the boundaries of the county must be listed in a separate box or<br>category within the sample ballot by legislative district number to enable the voters in each<br>legislative district to ascertain the legislative candidates in their specific district. Sample ballots<br>used for publication purposes must be arranged using the rotation of the ballot in the precinct in<br>the county which cast the highest total vote for governor at the last general election at which thePage No. 1office of governor was filled. The notice must include a statement in substantially the following<br>format:The arrangement of candidate names appearing on ballots in your precinct may vary<br>from the published sample ballots, depending upon the precinct and legislative<br>district in which you reside.16.1-13-06. Defeated primary candidate ineligible to have name printed on generalballot - Exception. Except to fill a vacancy occurring on the ballot, an individual who was a<br>candidate for nomination by any party or a candidate for a no-party office at any primary election<br>in any year and who was defeated for the nomination may not have that individual's name printed<br>upon the official ballot at the ensuing general election for the same office.16.1-13-07.Preparation, printing, distributing, canvassing, and returning ofno-party ballot. The no-party ballot must be prepared, printed, distributed, canvassed, and<br>returned in the same manner provided for other general election ballots.16.1-13-08.Filling vacancy in office of United States senator.When a vacancyoccurs in the office of United States senator from this state, the governor shall issue a writ of<br>election to fill the vacancy at the next statewide primary or general election, whichever occurs<br>first, and that occurs at least ninety days after the vacancy. However, if the next primary or<br>general election at which the vacancy could be filled occurs in the year immediately preceding<br>the expiration of the term, then no election may be held. The governor, by appointment, may fill<br>the vacancy temporarily, but any person so appointed shall serve only until the vacancy is filled<br>by election or until the term expires if no election can be held.16.1-13-08.1.Special election to fill a vacancy in the United States House ofRepresentatives due to a catastrophic circumstance. If a vacancy occurs in the office of<br>representative in Congress due to a catastrophic circumstance in which one hundred or more<br>representatives across the United States are no longer able to serve and the next regular or<br>special election is more than seventy-five days in the future, the governor shall immediately issue<br>a writ of election calling a special election to fill the vacancy. The date of the election shall be<br>forty-nine days from the date of the proclamation and the following deadlines shall apply:1.Certificate of endorsement as described in section 16.1-11-09, affidavits of<br>candidacy described in section 16.1-11-10, and statements of interest described in<br>section 16.1-09-03 for those candidates nominated by political parties currently<br>established in the state shall be filed with the secretary of state by four p.m. on the<br>fortieth day before the election.2.If the election occurs in an election year, the precincts previously established by the<br>county shall be utilized.3.If the election occurs in a year without a scheduled election, the board of county<br>commissioners must establish the precinct boundaries by the fortieth day before the<br>election.4.The secretary of state shall certify to the county auditors the names of the<br>candidates for the election on the thirty-ninth day before the election.5.Absentee ballots shall be made available to qualified electors by the thirtieth day<br>before the election.16.1-13-09.Resignation of members of legislative assembly after certificate ofelection.Any person who receives a certificate of election as a member of the legislativeassembly may resign such office although the person may not have entered upon the execution<br>of the duties thereof nor taken the requisite oath of office.16.1-13-10. Vacancy existing in office of member of legislative assembly.Page No. 21.If a vacancy in the office of a member of the legislative assembly occurs, the county<br>auditor of the county in which the former member resides or resided shall notify the<br>chairman of the legislative management of the vacancy. The county auditor need<br>not notify the chairman of the legislative management of the resignation of a<br>member of the legislative assembly when the resignation was made under section<br>44-02-02. Upon receiving notification of a vacancy, the chairman of the legislative<br>management shall notify the district committee of the political party that the former<br>member represented in the district in which the vacancy exists.The districtcommittee shall hold a meeting within twenty-one days after receiving the<br>notification and select an individual to fill the vacancy. If the former member was<br>elected as an independent candidate or if the district committee does not make an<br>appointment within twenty-one days after receiving the notice from the chairman of<br>the legislative management, the chairman of the legislative management shall<br>appoint a resident of the district to fill the vacancy.Except as provided insubsection 2, if eight hundred twenty-eight days or more remain until the expiration<br>of the term of office for that office, the individual appointed to fill the vacancy shall<br>serve until a successor is elected at and qualified following the next general election<br>or special election called by the governor according to subsection 2 to serve for the<br>remainder of the term of office for that office.2.The qualified electors of a legislative district in which a vacancy in the legislative<br>assembly occurs may petition for a special election to be called by the governor to fill<br>the vacancy. The petition must include the signatures of qualified electors equal in<br>number to four percent of the resident population of the legislative district as<br>determined by the last federal decennial census and must be presented to the<br>secretary of state within thirty days following an appointment being made according<br>to subsection 1.If the secretary of state determines the petition contains therequired number of signatures of qualified electors of the affected legislative district,<br>the secretary of state shall notify the governor that a special election is required to<br>be called to fill the vacancy. Upon receiving such notice, the governor shall issue a<br>writ of election directed to the county auditor of each affected county commanding<br>the county auditor to hold a special election to fill the vacancy at a time designated<br>by the governor.A special election under this section must conform to theapplicable election deadlines found in this title and may be called to coincide with a<br>regularly scheduled primary or general election provided the special election is<br>called by the fifteenth day before the deadline for candidates to file for office before a<br>regularly scheduled primary or general election.A special election under thissection may not be scheduled to occur during the time from a general election<br>through eighty days following the adjournment of the next ensuing regular session of<br>the legislative assembly.3.The secretary of state must be notified of an appointment made by a district<br>committee or the chairman of the legislative management according to this section.<br>Upon notification, the secretary of state shall issue the appointee a certificate of<br>appointment and an oath of office for the appointee to complete and file with the<br>secretary of state.16.1-13-11.Vacancy occurring in legislative assembly during session - Duty ofgovernor. Repealed by S.L. 2001, ch. 209, <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://statutes.laws.com/test/","url":"https://statutes.laws.com/test/","name":"State Codes and Statutes - Statutes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://statutes.laws.com/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-10T03:31:37+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-27T23:25:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://statutes.laws.com/test/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://statutes.laws.com/test/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://statutes.laws.com/test/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://statutes.laws.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"State Codes and Statutes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://statutes.laws.com/#website","url":"https://statutes.laws.com/","name":"Statutes","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://statutes.laws.com/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}</script> <!-- / Yoast SEO Premium plugin. --> <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//fonts.googleapis.com' /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Statutes &raquo; Feed" href="https://statutes.laws.com/feed/" /> <script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ window._wpemojiSettings = {"baseUrl":"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/14.0.0\/72x72\/","ext":".png","svgUrl":"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/14.0.0\/svg\/","svgExt":".svg","source":{"concatemoji":"https:\/\/statutes.laws.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-emoji-release.min.js?ver=e9ae2245a59484c8e270e38ea5c9a014"}}; /*! 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class="shortcode-content"> <h2>State Codes and Statutes</h2> <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/'>Statutes</a> > <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/north-dakota'>North-dakota</a> > <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/north-dakota/t161'>T161</a> > <a href='https://statutes.laws.com/north-dakota/t161/t161c13'>T161c13</a><br><br><a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/north-dakota/2009/t161/pdf/t161c13.pdf">Download pdf</a><br><div id="embed_document" style="width:625px; height:815px; text-align:center;">Loading PDF...</div><script type="text/javascript"> var pdf_url = 'https://law.justia.com/codes/north-dakota/2009/t161/pdf/t161c13.pdf'; $(document).ready(function() { var embedwindow = $("#embed_document"); if ($.browser.msie){ embedwindow.html('<embed src="'+pdf_url+'" width="100%" height="100%"></embed>'); } else { embedwindow.html('<iframe style="width:100%; height:100%;" src="https://docs.google.com/gview?url='+window.escape(pdf_url)+'&embedded=true" frameborder="0"></iframe>'); } });</script><br><br><noframes>CHAPTER 16.1-13GENERAL ELECTIONS16.1-13-01. Date of general election. The general election must be held in all theelection districts of this state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each<br>even-numbered year.16.1-13-02. Officers to be elected at general election. All elective state, district, andcounty officers, and the United States senators, and the members of the United States house of<br>representatives, must be elected at the general election next preceding the expiration of the term<br>of each such officer. In a year when a president and vice president of the United States are to be<br>chosen, a number of presidential electors equal to the number of senators and representatives to<br>which this state is entitled in the Congress of the United States must be elected at such general<br>election.16.1-13-03. Secretary of state to give notice to county auditor of officers to beelected. Not later than seventy days prior to the date of election, the secretary of state shall<br>direct and cause to be delivered to the county auditor of each county a notice specifying each<br>officer to be chosen at the next general election. The publication of the sample ballot by the<br>county auditor constitutes the notice of the secretary of state in regard to the offices and<br>candidates to be voted upon at the general election.16.1-13-04.Candidates' names placed on official general election ballot.Thenames of all candidates of each political party or principle or no-party designation, who are<br>shown to have been nominated for the several offices in accordance with the certificates of<br>nomination filed in the secretary of state's office, must be placed by the secretary of state on the<br>official ballot to be voted for at the next general election.16.1-13-05. Notice of election - Contents - Publication with sample ballot. Notice ofall general elections must be published by the county auditor in the official county newspaper at<br>the same time as, and as a part of, the publication of the sample ballot preceding the election.<br>The notice must be substantially as follows:Notice is given that on Tuesday, November ______, ___, at the polling places in the<br>various precincts in the county of _______________, an election will be held for the<br>election of state, district, and county officers, which election will be opened at<br>________ a.m. and will continue open until ________ p.m. of that day with the following<br>exceptions:______________________________________________________________<br>______________________________________________________________<br>Dated ______________, _______Signed _____________________________________County AuditorThe county auditor shall publish a copy of the sample ballot of the general election once each<br>week for two consecutive weeks before the election in the official county newspaper.If nonewspaper is published in the county, the publication must be in a newspaper published in an<br>adjoining county in the state. The form of the sample ballot as ordered and arranged by the<br>county auditor must conform in all respects to the form prescribed by the secretary of state for<br>the sample general election ballot. The county auditor shall publish the sample ballot in all forms<br>appropriate for the method or methods of voting in the county. Absentee voter ballots may not<br>be considered in determining which form of voting is used. Candidates from each legislative<br>district which falls within the boundaries of the county must be listed in a separate box or<br>category within the sample ballot by legislative district number to enable the voters in each<br>legislative district to ascertain the legislative candidates in their specific district. Sample ballots<br>used for publication purposes must be arranged using the rotation of the ballot in the precinct in<br>the county which cast the highest total vote for governor at the last general election at which thePage No. 1office of governor was filled. The notice must include a statement in substantially the following<br>format:The arrangement of candidate names appearing on ballots in your precinct may vary<br>from the published sample ballots, depending upon the precinct and legislative<br>district in which you reside.16.1-13-06. Defeated primary candidate ineligible to have name printed on generalballot - Exception. Except to fill a vacancy occurring on the ballot, an individual who was a<br>candidate for nomination by any party or a candidate for a no-party office at any primary election<br>in any year and who was defeated for the nomination may not have that individual's name printed<br>upon the official ballot at the ensuing general election for the same office.16.1-13-07.Preparation, printing, distributing, canvassing, and returning ofno-party ballot. The no-party ballot must be prepared, printed, distributed, canvassed, and<br>returned in the same manner provided for other general election ballots.16.1-13-08.Filling vacancy in office of United States senator.When a vacancyoccurs in the office of United States senator from this state, the governor shall issue a writ of<br>election to fill the vacancy at the next statewide primary or general election, whichever occurs<br>first, and that occurs at least ninety days after the vacancy. However, if the next primary or<br>general election at which the vacancy could be filled occurs in the year immediately preceding<br>the expiration of the term, then no election may be held. The governor, by appointment, may fill<br>the vacancy temporarily, but any person so appointed shall serve only until the vacancy is filled<br>by election or until the term expires if no election can be held.16.1-13-08.1.Special election to fill a vacancy in the United States House ofRepresentatives due to a catastrophic circumstance. If a vacancy occurs in the office of<br>representative in Congress due to a catastrophic circumstance in which one hundred or more<br>representatives across the United States are no longer able to serve and the next regular or<br>special election is more than seventy-five days in the future, the governor shall immediately issue<br>a writ of election calling a special election to fill the vacancy. The date of the election shall be<br>forty-nine days from the date of the proclamation and the following deadlines shall apply:1.Certificate of endorsement as described in section 16.1-11-09, affidavits of<br>candidacy described in section 16.1-11-10, and statements of interest described in<br>section 16.1-09-03 for those candidates nominated by political parties currently<br>established in the state shall be filed with the secretary of state by four p.m. on the<br>fortieth day before the election.2.If the election occurs in an election year, the precincts previously established by the<br>county shall be utilized.3.If the election occurs in a year without a scheduled election, the board of county<br>commissioners must establish the precinct boundaries by the fortieth day before the<br>election.4.The secretary of state shall certify to the county auditors the names of the<br>candidates for the election on the thirty-ninth day before the election.5.Absentee ballots shall be made available to qualified electors by the thirtieth day<br>before the election.16.1-13-09.Resignation of members of legislative assembly after certificate ofelection.Any person who receives a certificate of election as a member of the legislativeassembly may resign such office although the person may not have entered upon the execution<br>of the duties thereof nor taken the requisite oath of office.16.1-13-10. Vacancy existing in office of member of legislative assembly.Page No. 21.If a vacancy in the office of a member of the legislative assembly occurs, the county<br>auditor of the county in which the former member resides or resided shall notify the<br>chairman of the legislative management of the vacancy. The county auditor need<br>not notify the chairman of the legislative management of the resignation of a<br>member of the legislative assembly when the resignation was made under section<br>44-02-02. Upon receiving notification of a vacancy, the chairman of the legislative<br>management shall notify the district committee of the political party that the former<br>member represented in the district in which the vacancy exists.The districtcommittee shall hold a meeting within twenty-one days after receiving the<br>notification and select an individual to fill the vacancy. If the former member was<br>elected as an independent candidate or if the district committee does not make an<br>appointment within twenty-one days after receiving the notice from the chairman of<br>the legislative management, the chairman of the legislative management shall<br>appoint a resident of the district to fill the vacancy.Except as provided insubsection 2, if eight hundred twenty-eight days or more remain until the expiration<br>of the term of office for that office, the individual appointed to fill the vacancy shall<br>serve until a successor is elected at and qualified following the next general election<br>or special election called by the governor according to subsection 2 to serve for the<br>remainder of the term of office for that office.2.The qualified electors of a legislative district in which a vacancy in the legislative<br>assembly occurs may petition for a special election to be called by the governor to fill<br>the vacancy. The petition must include the signatures of qualified electors equal in<br>number to four percent of the resident population of the legislative district as<br>determined by the last federal decennial census and must be presented to the<br>secretary of state within thirty days following an appointment being made according<br>to subsection 1.If the secretary of state determines the petition contains therequired number of signatures of qualified electors of the affected legislative district,<br>the secretary of state shall notify the governor that a special election is required to<br>be called to fill the vacancy. Upon receiving such notice, the governor shall issue a<br>writ of election directed to the county auditor of each affected county commanding<br>the county auditor to hold a special election to fill the vacancy at a time designated<br>by the governor.A special election under this section must conform to theapplicable election deadlines found in this title and may be called to coincide with a<br>regularly scheduled primary or general election provided the special election is<br>called by the fifteenth day before the deadline for candidates to file for office before a<br>regularly scheduled primary or general election.A special election under thissection may not be scheduled to occur during the time from a general election<br>through eighty days following the adjournment of the next ensuing regular session of<br>the legislative assembly.3.The secretary of state must be notified of an appointment made by a district<br>committee or the chairman of the legislative management according to this section.<br>Upon notification, the secretary of state shall issue the appointee a certificate of<br>appointment and an oath of office for the appointee to complete and file with the<br>secretary of state.16.1-13-11.Vacancy occurring in legislative assembly during session - Duty ofgovernor. 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