Libertarian gubernatorial candidate back on the ballot

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After being disqualified from appearing on the November ballot, a Grand Forks gubernatorial candidate has now gathered enough signatures to get back on.

Roland Riemers, a libertarian now running as an independent with Anthony Johns, said in a news release that he’d submitted more than 1,100 signatures to the secretary of state.

The pair appears on the ballot certified by the secretary on Monday.

But Riemers is still suing the state to remove his Republican and Democratic opponents because he claims their paperwork were also faulty.

The trial is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday in front of Grand Forks District Judge Lawrence Jahnke, he said.

Earlier this year, Riemers won enough votes as a libertarian to appear on the November ballot. But he was disqualified because his then-running mate, Richard Ames, didn’t file the proper paperwork. State law says both have to run together.

Riemers was forced to re-gather signatures and run as an independent.

In his lawsuit, he claims that Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley and Democrats Ryan Taylor and Ellen Chaffee filed separate certificates of endorsement for their offices when state law refers only to a “certificate of endorsement.” Meaning each pair should have both their names on a certificate not on two separate certificates.

The deadline to file for office has passed, Riemers said, so, if he won, the major-party candidates would have to “run a difficult write-in campaign.” He, Johns and the other independents, Paul Sorum and Michael Coachman, would be the only ones on the ballot.

Riemers has run for Grand Forks School Board, Grand Forks County sheriff and U.S. Senate, among other offices. He has sued political opponents in the past, including columnist and former Lt. Gov. Lloyd Omdahl and Rick Mahar, director of the Grafton Violence Intervention. Both criticized an initiative to reform state family law that Riemers authored; the court tossed out both suits.

Tags: roland riemers, north dakota, ryan taylor, jack dalrymple, news, ballot, election, governor