North Dakota could be on its way to a historic voter participation rate based on early voting turnout and potential Election Day vote totals, Secretary of State Michael Howe said Monday.

More than 182,000 ballots had been cast in North Dakota’s election as of 3 p.m. Monday, according to the Secretary of State’s election results portal. That total includes more than 96,000 people who voted early in person and nearly 86,000 total mail-in and absentee ballots received before Election Day.

“To me, it signals enthusiasm,” Howe said.

A long line formed for the final day of early in-person voting at the Bismarck Event Center on Nov. 4, 2024. (Amy Dalrymple/North Dakota Monitor)

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, more than 273,000 North Dakotans voted through the mail or in person ahead of Election Day. In 2016, nearly 135,000 residents cast their ballots before Election Day.

“We average 63% turnout for a presidential election and typically about 60% of the total vote happens on Election Day,” Howe said. “What we won’t know until tomorrow night is, what are the voting habits? Are we having our same set of voters, but they are just choosing a different method by voting early? Or are we bringing in people who maybe haven’t participated before, or haven’t participated in a while?”

Howe said the record for statewide voter participation is 69% set during the 1984 presidential election. He added presidential races usually garner more votes than the congressional midterm elections. In addition, ballot measures involving abolishing assessed-value property taxes and recreational marijuana may have inspired more voters to turn out, and turn out early. Howe also said the open governor’s race and open U.S. House seat may encourage more participation as well.

Seven North Dakota counties conducted early in-person voting including multiple locations in Cass County.

“We heard record turnout, a very, very large turnout almost every single day of early in-person voting that they offered,” he said.

Howe said the state Republican Party encouraged early voting during this election, which was a departure from some candidates’ messaging in previous elections, and the Democratic-NPL Party’s early voting push could have added to the state’s increased early in-person vote totals.

Mary Tintes, board vice president for the League of Women Voters of North Dakota, said the nonpartisan organization’s main goal is to educate voters on the candidates, statewide ballot measures and how to participate. She added the group has seen an uptick in membership in recent months and new League of Women Voters chapters starting in North Dakota.

“The volunteer efforts have been fantastic,” Tintes said. “I think we’ve seen a real increase, which is great.”

She also credits the different election authorities across the state for making it easier to participate in the election.

“I hope people recognize that voting is not a chore,” Tintes said. “It’s not a privilege. It’s a right. It’s a basic right that we all should cherish and exercise.”

The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.

The Secretary of State’s Office will begin publishing unofficial results on its website at 8 p.m. Central, Howe said. State law allows election officials to begin processing mail-in ballots the Friday before Election Day. Officials don’t begin tabulating the ballots until after the polls close.

Howe said he doesn’t anticipate any problems with the U.S. Postal Service after it instituted an extraordinary measures campaign in October to ensure every ballot mailed on, or before, Nov. 4 had the necessary postmark. During the June statewide primary, a handful of counties reported absentee ballots with missing postmarks.

Howe also praised county election officials, volunteers and all election workers for helping the state setup and conduct elections in accordance with state law.

“They are a fantastic bunch of people and we could not run an election without those folks, or our volunteer poll workers, too,” Howe said.