FARGO, N.D. (LWV) – The League of Women Voters has launched a nonpartisan online voting resource available in English, Somali, and Arabic for North Dakota’s November 5, 2024 election. The effort aims to empower new American voters, first-time voters, and voters whose first language isn’t English with the election information they need to cast their ballot in North Dakota.
The resource features voting information and candidate responses from the US House and US Senate candidates from the League’s VOTE411.org voter guide. The translated voting resource can be found at lwvnd.org/translated-guide.
The project was created in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley, Immigrant Development Center, and Inclusive Moorhead. A grant from the Awesome Foundation Cass-Clay helped launch the project.
“New Americans are proud citizens of the United States, and they are eager to actively engage with the system, ensuring that their voices are heard and valued,” said Fowzia Adde, Executive Director of the Immigrant Development Center.
“New Americans enrich our community through their workforce and educational contributions, and their continued participation after gaining citizenship enhances our society,” said Siham Amedy, Project Lead at Creating Community Consulting and Coordinator for Inclusive Moorhead. “Supporting them in overcoming voting challenges ensures their full democratic engagement and representation.”
“We’re proud to offer this nonpartisan guide to voting in multiple languages to make it easier for voters to participate in the democratic process,” said Randi Dombek, President of the League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley. “Every year, we focus on empowering voters with election information, but this year it’s especially important due to changes in North Dakota’s voter ID laws that affect the new American community.”
A 2023 North Dakota law requires naturalized US citizens to update their North Dakota ID after they become naturalized citizens. Last year, the North Dakota Department of Transportation mailed an estimated 19,000 letters to individuals flagged as a non-citizen in the NDDOT system, letting them know if their citizenship status has changed or does change before the next election, that their North Dakota identification needs to be updated. For more information, review the state’s
resource flyer.