Judge dismisses lawsuit against North Dakota related to petition circulators

Jared Hendrix, left, and Scott Tillman haul boxes full of signed petitions for a ballot measure to establish an age limit for North Dakota congressional delegates into the Capitol on Feb. 9, 2024. The measure, if passed by voters, would make it so no North Dakotan could be elected to Congress if they will reach their 81st birthday by the end of their term. (Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

A federal judge granted a request from plaintiffs to dismiss a lawsuit against North Dakota over its prohibition on out-of-state residents circulating political petitions.

In a motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs said that instead of moving forward with the case, they want to instead focus on legal challenges against similar bans in Arkansas and Missouri.

In the motion, filed last week in U.S. District Court, the plaintiffs said their ultimate goal is to overturn a 2001 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that found North Dakota’s ban constitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland granted the motion Monday.

The lawsuit challenging the provision was filed in September by Fargo resident Jared Hendrix, Texas resident Trenton Pool and his petition company Accelevate 2020, and two political advocacy groups: Retire Congress North Dakota and the Liberty Initiative Fund, which is headquartered in Virginia.

In a Monday text to the North Dakota Monitor, Hendrix said he still supports the aim of the lawsuit, but that he and the other plaintiffs no longer have the time and money to pursue it.

“We should have the same ability to hire campaign professionals as any other campaign,” he said.

The North Dakota Constitution requires voter-initiated ballot measures to be circulated by North Dakota residents. The point of the provision is to make sure major changes to North Dakota law come from North Dakota residents.

A state law makes violating this requirement a class A misdemeanor, which comes with maximum penalties of up to 360 days in jail, an up to $3,000 fine or both.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs claimed that the rule makes it more difficult and more expensive to recruit competent petition circulators. They said this was unfairly burdening organizers behind a voter-initiated measure to set age limits on North Dakota congressional delegates — a proposal Hendrix also spearheads as chair of Retire Congress North Dakota.

The plaintiffs also argued in the complaint that petition circulation counts as “grassroots political speech” protected by the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

“Unfortunately, the legal process was unable to resolve this for us in time to impact our campaign,” Hendrix said in the text.

Originally, the plaintiffs said they feared the restriction would preclude supporters of the voter-initiated measure from gathering enough signatures to get on the election ballot.

However, petitioners successfully submitted the required number of signatures by the February deadline. The proposal will appear on the June 11 primary ballot.

If approved by voters, the measure would amend the North Dakota Constitution to bar residents from being elected or appointed to Congress if they would turn 81 by the end of their term.

Secretary of State Michael Howe said he’s glad the plaintiffs dropped the case, but frustrated that North Dakota has already spent thousands in taxpayer money litigating it.

“North Dakota’s constitution was intended for North Dakotans — that only the people of North Dakota are allowed to change North Dakota’s constitution,” Howe said.

The state spent roughly $51,000 in attorney fees and another $5,500 in other costs on the suit, according to documents filed by an attorney representing North Dakota in the case.

The state said in the response it is not seeking to recoup those costs at this time, but may in the future if the plaintiffs were ever to bring a similar suit.

The case was scheduled to go to trial in 2025.

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