North Dakota Secretary Of State Election, 2010

Secretary of State 2010 elections
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2010 Election information
Primary election dates Statewide elections, 2010 November 2nd General Election results National Association of Secretaries of State Secretary of State Project
State Executive Official news headlines

The North Dakota Secretary of State election of 2010 was held on November 2, 2010. Republican incumbent Al Jaeger won 62.44% of the vote, easily defeating his challenger, Democrat Corey Mock. Neither candidate was opposed in the June 8 primary election.

Previous election[edit]

Incumbent Jaeger first won election as the state's secretary of state in 1992. During the last election cycle, he ran unopposed in the Republican primary race. In the general election contest, Jaeger faced Democratic challenger Kristin Hedger, winning by 115,341 (53.9%) votes to 98,583 (48.1%) votes.^[1]

Race tracking[edit]

Ballotpedia predicted a Republican would become North Dakota's new Secretary of State.

2010 Ballotpedia Race Rankings for North Dakota Secretary of State
Race Tracker		Race Rating
Ballotpedia		Likely Republican
Overall Call		Likely Republican

General election[edit]

Results[edit]

On November 2, 2010, Alvin Jaeger won re-election to the office of North Dakota Secretary of State. He defeated Corey Mock (D) in the general election.

North Dakota Secretary of State, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Alvin Jaeger Incumbent	62.4%	145,882
	Democratic	Corey Mock	37.5%	87,519
	Write-In	Various	0.1%	222
Total Votes				233,623
Election results via North Dakota Secretary of State.

Endorsements[edit]

Al Jaeger

• Grand Forks Herald, local newspaper^[2]

Corey Mock

• Bismarck Tribune, local newspaper^[3][4]
• Communications Workers of America (CWA)^[5]
• North Dakota AFL-CIO^[6]

Finances[edit]

According to Follow the Money, the breakdown of campaign finances for each of the candidates is as follows:

North Dakota Secretary of State Campaign Finance
Candidate		Total Contributions
Corey Mock[7]		$135,161
Al Jaegar[8]		$84,235

Noteworthy events[edit]

Candidate left off public service commission ballot[edit]

Joshua Voytek, a Libertarian candidate for the North Dakota Public Service Commission, was left off the state's June 8th primary ballot as a result of misplaced paperwork. According to Secretary of State Jaeger, even though Voytek mailed the required forms, including a candidate affidavit and statement of his financial interests, in early April, he was not listed as an official candidate because "the documents were mistakenly attached to other business registration paperwork in his office when the mail received April 8 was opened."^[9] Jaeger decided to place the third-party individual on the general election ballot, despite not receiving at least 300 votes to be eligible to run in the fall as required by state law - a move that drew criticism, especially from Mock. Some conservative commentators in the state said that "Jaeger may have overstepped his bounds."^[10]

Even though Jaeger said that he discussed the matter with the State Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem prior to reaching his decision, Stenehjem denied a request made by Democratic State Senator John Warner for a formal legal opinion on the issue.^[11]

State Libertarian lawsuit[edit]

The Institute for Free Speech, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group, sued Secretary of State Al Jaeger on behalf of the Chairman of the North Dakota Libertarian Party and two candidates for the state legislature on the 2010 primary ballot that did not get enough votes to qualify for the general election. Oliver Hall, the attorney representing the Libertarians, said that the state's requirement to get a minimum amount of votes in the primary along with 7,000 signatures for ballot access was unconstitutional. Hall said the law restricted free speech and due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.^[12]

Jaeger told the Bismarck Tribune that it was not his responsibility to determine which election laws were constitutional. The state's top election officer said: "we follow the law, and if they disagree with the law, they have the right to pursue satisfaction for whatever they feel is a problem."^[12] North Dakota is the only state in the nation to have this type of a requirement for third party candidates to get on the ballot. Minnesota had a similar law until their Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.^[12] According to Ballot Access News, no third party candidate for the legislature has qualified for the general election since 1976.^[12]

June 8, 2010 primaries[edit]

See also: North Dakota Attorney General election, 2010

Democratic primary[edit]

Candidates[edit]

• State Representative Corey Mock^[13]

Electoral results[edit]

• Corey Mock ran unopposed in this contest

Republican primary[edit]

Candidates[edit]

• Incumbent Al Jaeger^[14]

Electoral results[edit]

• Al Jaeger ran unopposed in this contest

External links[edit]

• List of candidates qualified for North Dakota's June 8 Secretary of State primary

• Green Paper's list of candidates for North Dakota Secretary of State, 2010

General Election candidates[edit]

• Al Jaeger for North Dakota Secretary of State Campaign website
• Corey Mock for North Dakota Secretary of State Campaign website

Footnotes[edit]

	v • e State of North Dakota Bismarck (capital)
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