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Last week, the North Dakota Senate voted on HCR 3013, a resolution that would have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its decision legalizing same sex marriage. When votes were cast, the vote of each individual Senator was not displayed.
Why was that?
The vote was a verification vote, meaning the vote board remained dark, and each member’s individual vote was not displayed. After that, I was asked a number of questions about how – and why – that happened.
So, here are the rules for votes:
For normal bills, a roll call vote is required. That means the vote board lights up with green (yes) or red (no) votes. These votes are recorded, and you can see how individual legislators voted on a particular issue.
A voice vote is normally used for uncontested amendments to bills, and for non-Constitutional resolutions. But if the voice vote is close, the presiding officer may call for, or make a motion calling for, a verification vote.
When a member calls for a recorded roll call vote, one-sixth of the members of either chamber must stand to request it, and then the votes would be recorded. That would be 8 Senators, or 16 Representatives.
When the marriage equality measure came up, Sen. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, asked for a verification vote. Then Sen. Josh Boschee, D-Fargo, asked for a recorded roll call vote, but only 6 Senators of the required 8 stood to agree. So, the board stayed dark, and the individual votes were not recorded.
The resolution failed.
Watch: Here's the video of the Senate floor vote on HCR 3013. The discussion begins at 3:12:15.
When concurrent resolutions have teeth
HCR 3013 didn’t have the weight of law, as policymakers like to say. But if a concurrent resolution calls for an amendment to the constitution, then they do need to be acted upon.
HCR 3036 did call for an amendment to the state constitution that would require the legislature to meet every year. It did not pass, but if it had, the resolution would have been put to voters in 2026.
Newspapers up for discussion in the Legislature
Check out the latest episode of In Session to learn about SB 2069, a bill that crossed over to the house.
The bill proposes a back stop in case a newspaper fails to publish a public notice by creating a website housed under the secretary of state’s office. Co-hosts Ann Alquist and Erik Deatherage take a deep dive into the potential ramifications. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
Talk to you next week,
Dave Thompson