2020 North Dakota Democratic presidential caucuses
The 2020 North Dakota Democratic presidential caucuses took place on March 10, 2020, as one of several states voting the week after Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries and caucuses for the 2020 presidential election. While the contest has in effect been a party-run open primary for the first time in North Dakota's history, the state party retained the traditional caucus name, classifying it as a firehouse caucus. The state awarded 18 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 14 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the election.
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18 delegates (14 pledged, 4 unpledged) to the Democratic National Convention The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in North Dakota |
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Senator Bernie Sanders decisively won the caucuses with almost 53% of the vote and 8 delegates over former vice president Joe Biden who won almost 40% and 6 delegates, as North Dakota was the only state on that day and the last state of the primary season to vote in favor of Sanders.
Procedure
North Dakota was one of six states (along with Democrats Abroad) which held primaries on March 10, 2020, one week after Super Tuesday.[1] On March 13, 2019, the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party released its draft delegate selection plan, which moved away from the previous caucus system and called for the creation, in effect, of a party-run primary referred to by the party as a "firehouse caucus".[2] The date was also moved back from June in 2016 to a more relevant date in March.
Voting by mail began on January 20, 2020, and continued through March 5.[3] On March 10, polls opened and closed simultaneously throughout the state, with in-person voting through a ballot system taking place between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Central Time Zone and from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. within the Mountain Time Zone at firehouse caucus locations across the state. Global Election Services (GES), a subsidiary of publicly traded Global Arena Holding, was retained to administer the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Presidential Primary election. In the open caucuses, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent statewide in order to be considered viable. The 14 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the firehouse caucus. Of these, 9 corresponded to the result of the statewide vote (coterminous with its sole congressional district) and another 2 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 3 at-large delegates, both also according to the statewide vote.[4] The March primary as part of Stage I on the primary timetable received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on a March date.[5]
Following legislative district conventions between March 11 and March 14, 2020 to elect state convention delegates, the state convention met virtually between March 19 and March 21, 2020 (originally planned in Minot but cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)[6][7] and elected 9 national convention district delegates. Afterwards, at the meeting of the select committee on delegates on April 4, 2020, the 9 district delegates elected the 3 at-large and 2 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 4 unpledged PLEO delegates: 4 members of the Democratic National Committee.[4]
| Pledged national convention delegates | |
|---|---|
| Type | Del. |
| CD at-large | 9 |
| PLEO | 2 |
| At-large | 3 |
| Total pledged delegates | 14 |
Polling
| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size[lower-alpha 1] |
Margin of error |
Joe Biden |
Tulsi Gabbard |
Bernie Sanders |
Other | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swayable Archived 2020-03-18 at the Wayback Machine | Mar 7–9, 2020 | 383 (LV) | ± 9% | 65% | 0% | 31% | 4% | – |
Results
All of the withdrawn candidates had withdrawn from the race while mail-in voting had already begun.
| Candidate | Votes | % | Delegates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernie Sanders | 7,682 | 52.81 | 8 |
| Joe Biden | 5,742 | 39.47 | 6 |
| Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) | 366 | 2.52 | |
| Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn) | 223 | 1.53 | |
| Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) | 164 | 1.13 | |
| Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) | 113 | 0.78 | |
| Tulsi Gabbard | 89 | 0.61 | |
| Andrew Yang (withdrawn) | 20 | 0.14 | |
| Tom Steyer (withdrawn) | 6 | 0.04 | |
| Michael Bennet (withdrawn) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| John Delaney (withdrawn) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| Deval Patrick (withdrawn) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Unsigned votes / Overvotes / Blank Votes | [lower-alpha 2]133 | 0.91 | |
| Total | 14,546 | 100% | 14 |
Results by caucus site
| Caucus site[10] | County | Sanders | % | Biden | % | Others | % | Total | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fargo | Cass | 2,682 | 65.22% | 1,376 | 33.46% | 54 | 1.32% | 4,112 | 31.76% |
| Grand Forks | Grand Forks | 1,033 | 56.20% | 766 | 41.68% | 39 | 2.12% | 1,838 | 14.52% |
| Bismarck | Burleigh | 1,126 | 48.91% | 1,136 | 49.35% | 40 | 1.74% | 2,302 | -0.44% |
| Minot | Ward | 523 | 53.04% | 441 | 44.73% | 22 | 2.23% | 986 | 8.31% |
| Williston | Williams | 158 | 50.80% | 139 | 44.69% | 14 | 4.51% | 311 | 6.11% |
| Jamestown | Stutsman | 156 | 32.84% | 307 | 64.63% | 12 | 2.53% | 475 | -31.79% |
| Devils Lake | Ramsey | 87 | 32.46% | 176 | 65.67% | 5 | 1.87% | 268 | -33.21% |
| Valley City | Barnes | 110 | 33.13% | 212 | 63.86% | 10 | 3.01% | 332 | -30.73% |
| Dickinson | Stark | 212 | 56.68% | 152 | 40.64% | 10 | 2.68% | 375 | 16.04% |
| Belcourt | Rolette | 286 | 64.71% | 146 | 33.03% | 10 | 2.26% | 442 | 31.67% |
| Cannon Ball | Sioux | 103 | 76.87% | 28 | 20.90% | 3 | 2.23% | 134 | 55.97% |
| New Town | Mountrail | 164 | 62.84% | 94 | 36.02% | 3 | 1.14% | 261 | 26.82% |
| Wahpeton | Richland | 111 | 38.81% | 168 | 58.74% | 7 | 2.45% | 286 | -19.93% |
| Fort Totten | Benson | 53 | 67.95% | 21 | 26.92% | 4 | 5.13% | 78 | 41.03% |
| Vote By Mail | - | 878 | 39.66% | 580 | 26.20% | 756 | 34.14% | 2,214 | 13.46% |
Notes
- Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear - Unsigned 87, over 7, blank 39 votes
References
- Putnam, Josh (May 31, 2016). "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- Putnam, Josh (March 13, 2019). "North Dakota Democrats Plan to Hold March 10 Firehouse Caucuses". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- "Presidential Primary in ND". North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- "North Dakota Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. May 3, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
- "Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- "North Dakota coronavirus news, March 12: Democrats cancel state convention". The Bismarck Tribune. March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
- "Minot to host 2022 Democratic-NPL state convention". kfyrtv.com. May 11, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- "ND Democrats can vote in presidential primary starting next week". The Dickinson Press. January 16, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
- "2020 Democratic Caucus Results". North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
- "North Dakota Elections Results". AP. March 10, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
External links
- Presidential Primary in ND by the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party
- The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
- North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party draft delegate selection plan