Jill Schramm/MDN Voters consider their ballots in early voting prior to the November 2020 election. It was the first general election in Ward County to feature vote centers rather than individual precinct voting sites.

In casting their ballots this year, Ward County voters will have a choice of six vote centers on Election Day.

The county adopted the vote center model during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and looks to continue it into 2022. The vote centers for the June 14 and Nov. 8 elections are the Maysa Arena and State Fair Center in Minot, Berthold Senior Center, Ryder City Hall, Sawyer City Hall and Kenmare Memorial Hall.

Vote centers are not precinct-specific but each is open to any voter in the county. County Auditor Marisa Haman said the acquisition of new election equipment and electronic poll books allowed for the ability to establish vote centers in 2020. Electronic poll books enable poll workers to determine the proper ballot for each voter, based on residence, and once a voter is recorded in the system as having voted, that information is available at all the centers, preventing someone from voting more than once.

Haman said the advantage of vote centers is fewer workers must be recruited to staff the polling places, and the county isn’t restricted to finding workers from within a certain precinct. The county had reduced Minot’s polling places to a single vote center in 2018.

Haman said with the adoption of vote centers, the four precincts that have had mail-only balloting no longer will automatically receive ballot applications in the mail. In 2018, Ward County switched to vote-by-mail in smaller precincts where it was difficult to find poll workers. Residents in vote-by-mail precincts did have the options of using the early voting poll location in Minot or voting in person at a designated polling site in Minot on Election Day.

Absentee ballots and early voting remain options with the vote centers. Residents can request an application for a ballot beginning May 5. For military serving overseas, an application can be requested starting April 29.

Early voting will take place the week before and the Monday before the primary/local election in June and general election in November.

A new legislative districts map is available at wardnd.com in the GIS maps section. It shows district boundaries and enables residents to look up their addresses to find their districts. A pop-up box appears when an address is queried or a property clicked on that displays property features. An arrow at the upper corner of the box takes users to legislative district information. Minor changes to district boundaries were made during redistricting in 2021.

Haman said vote center locations were selected based on population distribution in the county and geographic accessibility. Establishing Minot vote centers at the edge of town can make them easier to access by people living outside the city, she added.

There were five vote centers in Ward County in 2020. The Sawyer location is being added this year.

Haman said this year’s election will be the real test of how well voters take to vote centers because the 2020 general election still saw many people choosing to vote absentee due to the pandemic.

North Dakota is one of 18 states that allow vote centers. It has permitted counties to use them since 2007.

Many smaller counties that went to vote-by-mail more than a decade ago introduced vote centers at the same time. Renville and McHenry Counties are among area counties that use vote by mail with a single polling place on election day. They plan to continue for 2022.

Bottineau County uses vote by mail but reduced its polls to just one in 2020. It plans to go back to having polling places in Bottineau, Lansford and Westhope this year if poll workers can be obtained. McLean County, which uses vote by mail, also has maintained polls in Garrison, Turtle Lake and Washburn that are open to any resident voter. Another polling place in White Shield services residents of that precinct only.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Colorado was the first state to use vote centers. Financial savings and voter convenience, which could increase turnout, have led to increasing interest around the country.