North Dakota certifies June primary results, turning page to general election

Katie Hemmer’s victory in the Jamestown mayoral race is now official, along with the rest of Stutsman County’s June 9 primary results. The North Dakota State Canvassing Board certified the 2026 primary on June 24, closing the final statewide step that turns local returns into legally settled election results.

For Jamestown and the surrounding county, that means Hemmer’s win over incumbent Dwaine Heinrich and challenger Pat Davis Sr. is no longer provisional. It also means the county’s other primary contests, including countywide vote totals recorded in Stutsman County’s results file, are now locked in as the official record that will carry the region into the November election season.

The certification followed a standard county-to-state process built into North Dakota election law. County auditors must certify election results to the secretary of state within 13 days after Election Day, and the secretary of state must call the State Canvassing Board no later than 17 days after the vote. All 53 county canvassing boards submitted their results before the state board acted, confirming that the June primary had cleared every required local review.

That local review matters in Stutsman County because county canvassing boards are the first line of final verification after precincts report unofficial totals. They review precinct-level results within each county and certify county contests, giving voters, candidates and local governments a final count they can rely on before shifting attention to the next election cycle.

Statewide, North Dakota officials said 125,225 eligible voters participated in the 2026 primary, a turnout rate of 20.86%. Absentee and mail ballots accounted for 39,644 sent and 34,756 returned, an 87.67% return rate, while another 17,288 voters cast early ballots. In Stutsman County, unofficial election-night reporting showed 3,417 ballots cast.

The certified results now set the stage for the general election on Nov. 3, when candidates and party organizations will pivot from primary contests to the fall ballot. In Bismarck, the State Canvassing Board is made up of Secretary of State Michael Howe, State Treasurer Thomas Beadle, Clerk of the North Dakota Supreme Court Petra Mandigo Hulm, and the state party chairs or designees for the two parties that drew the highest vote for governor in the last gubernatorial election.

North Dakota took the same step after the 2024 primary, when state officials certified those results on June 26, 2024. This year’s June 24 certification gives Jamestown and Stutsman County the same procedural finish: the June primary is over, and the November ballot is now the next official test.