A District Judge has ruled that Secretary of State Al Jaeger was justified in not certifying a term limit initiation for the November ballot.
The measure would have limited Legislative terms and the term of the Governor to eight years.
The group “North Dakotans for Term Limits” turned in petitions with 46,366 signatures, to place the measure on the ballot. However, Jaeger found irregularities – and determined that 29,101 signatures were not valid.
Jaeger said many of the signatures were forged in the presence of a notary public. And he found other problems with signatures, including failure to have complete addresses. He also found some petition circulators were not North Dakota electors, and that some were not US citizens.
Jaeger also found that some petitioners were paid per signature – also not allowed under state law.
The group took Jaeger to court, asking the state Supreme Court to overturn that decision. The High Court sent it to the district court for an evidentiary hearing. And in his finding of facts, Judge James Hill said Jaeger’s decision was supported by the facts, and by prevailing law.
The state Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing in the case Sept. 2.