Port: Ballot error impacting Surrey school bond worse than first reported

MINOT — Thursday brought news that not every eligible voter was able to cast a ballot in the Surrey School District's narrowly defeated bond measure because an error by election officials didn't put the question on all of the ballots. The district covers parts of Ward and McLean counties in central North Dakota. Secretary of State Michael Howe told me previously that there was a street segment covering nine eligible voters that wasn't marked as belonging to the school district during a manual entry process. After his office reviewed the matter further, it was found that more voters were impacted. Howe said that 29 eligible voters in 13 households on eight street segments were impacted by the error, and 12 of them cast ballots that did not have the bond question on them. Had all 12 of those ballots been cast in favor of the school bond, which failed by five votes, it would have passed narrowly. Under state law, school bond questions must receive at least 60% of the vote to pas