BISMARCK – There will not be a challenge for the North Dakota District 42 House seat.
Secretary of State Michael Howe says proponents submitted 726 signatures to get the issue to a vote of the people. He said 612 signatures were accepted.
The issues with the rejected signatures centered around non-complete residential addresses of circulators, incomplete residential addresses of signers, an out of state address, no date of signature provided on the petition and one illegible name.
“If the petition effort had been successful, it would have been forwarded to the Governor, who could have directed a special election to coincide either with a regularly scheduled primary or general election or to occur on a specific date of his choice,” Howe said.
Dustin McNally was appointed by the District 42 Republican Party on September 19, 2025, to fill a vacancy in the North Dakota House of Representatives.
While the petition effort was seeking a special election to determine the seat currently held by McNally, the District 42 House seat will appear on the 2026 Primary Election ballot as an unexpired 2-year term to fill the remainder of the term of former Rep. Emily O’Brien.
The filing deadline to get on the ballot for the 2026 primary election is 4 p.m. on April 6.
