Another consequence of the attempts to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The state Republican convention – which was scheduled for Bismarck March 27th and 28th – has now been canceled.
Party Chairman Rick Berg said the party’s executive committee made that recommendation, and sent it to the state committee, and he said a “strong majority” of that committee agreed not to hold the convention.
Berg said that means the decision over who gets the nomination in the few contested races will be made in the primary.
Berg said the party is hoping to learn from this, and come up with a way to do remote voting, if this kind of situation comes up again in the future.
"The first option was to do something like the state does with absentee voters," Berg said. We would need 3-4 days to print and send the ballots, take 3-5 days for people to receive them, and 3-5 days for those ballots to come back."
Berg said state statute requires that every candidate on the primary needs to either have a party endorsement or 300 signatures by April 6th.
One issue unresolved is the letter of support for the no-party office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Three candidates are running for that office, and Berg said he’s made the suggestion that the party committee issue such a letter at its summer meeting.
