Voting in North Dakota’s Democratic presidential primary ends on Saturday, with President Joe Biden aiming to secure the state’s delegates as he maintains a significant lead for his party’s nomination. The primary, conducted mostly by mail from February 20 to Saturday at noon CT, marks the culmination of a busy month of voting on the presidential primary calendar, with numerous states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories holding primaries and caucuses in the past 30 days.
While ballots received after the deadline will not be counted, voters have the option to hand-deliver their mail ballots to the state party’s centralized drop-off point in Fargo, with prior arrangements required. A limited amount of in-person voting took place from March 22-24 at various locations to accommodate residents of Native American reservations.
In the 2020 caucuses, Biden lost to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who secured 53% of the vote compared to Biden's 40%. However, this time around, Biden is expected to secure his first victory in North Dakota against seven other candidates who have not made a significant impact this season.
The state party initially planned to use ranked-choice voting but had to revert to traditional vote-counting methods after the Democratic National Committee rejected the proposal. North Dakota Republicans held their presidential caucuses on March 4, with former President Donald Trump winning decisively.
North Dakota Democrats will be allocating 13 pledged delegates, with candidates needing at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any delegates. The state party is set to release one vote update after polls close, with the Associated Press making a winner call based on this announcement.
With the primary mostly conducted by mail and some in-person voting, the state party anticipates providing final vote results on Saturday evening or by Sunday evening at the latest. As of Saturday, there are 142 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and 220 days until the November general election.
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