BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — EDITORS:
NEWS DIRECTORS:
NOT FOR BROADCAST, PUBLICATION OR USE ONLINE
The North Dakota primary election is Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
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Poll Close: 7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m. CDT (8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. EDT)
First Results Expected: 7:05 p.m. CDT (8:05 p.m. EDT)
UPDATES:
ELECTION PROFILE:
Republican Kevin Cramer has a nearly unknown challenger in the June 12 North Dakota primary as he seeks to move from the U.S. House to the Senate. Before Cramer can get to Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, in what will be one of this fall’s most closely watched Senate races, his primary opponent is Thomas O’Neill, an Air Force veteran and assistant church pastor with no base, name ID or money.
The only other primary race of note is the GOP battle for the House seat Cramer is vacating. Kelly Armstrong, who left his post as the state party chairman, has the party’s endorsement and far more money than his opponents. Tiffany Abentroth is a former Marine and Paul Schaffner is a former North Dakota State football player with some legal troubles. State Senator Tom Campbell will also appear on the ballot even though he dropped out of the race.
ANOMALIES:
Memorial Day is Monday, May 28, so the first election test will be on a Tuesday. (May 29)
In US House District 1 GOP, Tom Campbell withdrew from the race, but his name remains on the ballot. AP will tabulate these results.
North Dakota does not have pre-election voter registration. Voters register when they vote and can vote for any party ballot of their choice.
The only contested races in this primary are GOP. All Dem and non-partisan races are uncontested until the General Election in November.
CONTACTS – ELECTION REPORTS:
Direct any questions about election reports, testing, or delivery to AP Elections services to AP Customer Support at (877)836-9477; apcustomersupport@ap.org.
Documentation for the AP Elections services is available at http://aphelp.ap.org.
Direct questions about news and photo coverage to Regional News Editor Doug Glass, phone (612 )332-2727 email dglass@ap.org.
CONTACTS – SERVICE CHANGES:
Members and customers interested in premium election services should contact Sales planning Manager Tara Mahoney, phone (212) 621-1759, email tmahoney@ap.org.
TESTING INFORMATION:
Testing Dates and Times:
May 29, 30, 31 (Tues., Wed., Th.) 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. CDT
June 4, 6, 7 (Mon., Wed., Th.) 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. CDT
June 11 (Mon.) 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. CDT
LAST ELECTION TEST – NO WINNERS WILL BE CALLED. This advisory will be updated throughout the testing period. Zeros will be transmitted after testing on the eve of the election.
Race calls: AP will make race calls on election night unless a race is too close to call. Race calls will be made during testing, except on the day of the final test.
Races and candidates are considered preliminary. AP will advise when they are final.
Statewide and race-specific precinct totals in early tests are considered preliminary. AP will advise when they are final.
Uncontested races: AP does not tabulate uncontested races. A list of races, ND-Uncontested, will move to premium service subscribers at ftp://electionsonline.ap.org/ND/anpa/ and to state news and broadcast services after the last polls close.
Winners: AP will move a list of unofficial winners at the end of tabulation and during each test, except on the final day of testing. A list of winners, ND-Winners will move to premium services at ftp://electionsonline.ap.org/ND/anpa/.
End of tabulation: AP will advise when its election night tabulation of results has concluded, generally before 6 p.m. local time the day after the election.
TESTING BASICS:
Test results are created electronically to test the accuracy of the election night reporting system and do not reflect an expectation of election results. They should not be broadcast, published, replicated or posted on websites.
It is vital to read weekly advisories during testing. Advisories move to news service advisory queues. Advisories note updates to candidates, races and precincts, along with the date when updates will appear. Changes may be made up to Election Day.
AP advises capture of each test during the testing period and particularly during the final test on the day before the election to ensure readiness to take results on Election Day.
Report frequency in testing may not reflect the actual election night schedule. As example, county tables for contested
U.S. House races move to Member Choice subscribers in each test but will move just twice on election night.
SEARCH CRITERIA FOR ELECTION TESTING ADVISORIES:
AP NEWSROOM:
Single State Search: geography:”North Dakota” AND category:v AND slug:”Election Testing”
Multi-State Search: geography:(“North Dakota” OR “New York”) AND category:v AND slug:”Election Testing”
ELECTION DAY INFORMATION: Premium Election Customers:
Premium Election Products (API, APEO-FTP, ANPA-FTP, DNE Elections) will have live zeros by 2 a.m. EDT on Election Day.
AP Newsroom and Webfeeds Users:
On Election Day from (1:00 -2:00 p.m. EDT), there will be a “live” (non-test) transmission of reports with zeros sent to AP Newsroom and Webfeeds.
Please pull in these live zero reports to clear your systems of test data.
DEFINITIONS OF KEY WORDS IN STATE SLUGS:
“TopRaces-Glance-Sum” contains race-wide results in summary format for contests AP considers editorially significant. For the 2018 primary, those races are: US Senate GOP, US House 1 GOP and State Senate 19 GOP.
“Contested” provides results in summary format for contested legislative races including GOP State Senate and GOP State House.
“Cnty” provides results in tabular format by county for select contested races. For the 2018 primary, those races are: US Senate GOP and US House GOP.
“CntyLong” provides results in a summary format by county for the following races: US Senate GOP and US House GOP.
ELECTION NIGHT SLUGS BY SERVICE / ELECTION NIGHT REPORT SCHEDULE
Here are the slugs for the reports AP will provide and approximate times they will move for each service on election night:
Premium Elections Results via Digital Feeds (API, ANPA-FTP, APEO-FTP, DNE Elections): Results are updated every three minutes for API/DNE and four to five minutes for APEO-FTP and ANPA-FTP.
BC-ND-TopRaces-Glance-Sum
BC-ND-GOP-StSen-Contested
BC-ND-GOP-StHou-Contested
BC-ND-GOP-Senate-Cnty
BC-ND-GOP-House-1-Cnty
BC-ND-GOP-Senate-CntyLong
BC-ND-GOP-House-1-CntyLong
Member Choice Basic / Member Choice Plus / Member Choice Complete, includes Webfeeds and AP Newsroom:
BC-ND-TopRaces-Glance-Sum, every 30 minutes starting at :30
BC-ND-GOP-StSen-Contested, even hours at :40
BC-ND-GOP-StHou-Contested, odd hours at :45
BC-ND-GOP-Senate-Cnty, 11:35 p.m. and 1:35 a.m.
BC-ND-GOP-House-1-Cnty, 11:35 p.m. and 1:35 a.m.
OpenWire / NewsPower / Newspower Max, includes Webfeeds and AP Newsroom:
BC-ND-TopRaces-Glance-Sum, every 30 minutes starting at :30
BC-ND-GOP-StSen-Contested, even hours at :40
BC-ND-GOP-StHou-Contested, odd hours at :45
Headlines, includes Webfeeds and AP Newsroom:
AP-HD-TopRaces-Glance-Sum, every 60 minutes starting at :50
The AP, Bismarck