News

Good number of voters come out to cast ballots

By Scott Wagar

06/19/2012

This year primary election in the Sixth District saw one of the largest turn outs in primary election history for voting in the district.

In the five precincts of the Sixth District, which includes Bottineau, McHenry and Renville counties, there were 2,361 individuals who voted in the primary election.

Normally during a presidential primary election year, the sixth district sees just over 1,000 voters, but this primary election was different for two reasons, which included Bottineau’s mayor election and the four constitutional measures on the ballot.

Numerous individuals in Bottineau stated they voted in the primary election to make sure their vote was counted in the mayor election, which originated after a local group in Bottineau filed a recall petition against Doug Marsden, who was removed from his seat in the election by a two to one vote by Bottineau’s residents, who voted in favor of Ben Aufforth.  

Voters also stated the measures were important to them, especially the measure on eliminating property taxes and retiring the Fighting Sioux nickname.

When it came to party lines, the Republican Party in the Sixth District saw 1,462 voters, while 742 individuals voted on the Democratic side. Outside the two main parties, the Non-Partisan League had 150 votes on the primary ballot, while the Libertarian Party gave out six votes and the Constitution Party saw one voter.

According to Lisa Herbel, auditor of Bottineau County, this year’s primary was one of the most important primaries the district has seen in a long time, and she was pleased with the voter turnout.