Morrison said it’s a complicated issue because the First Amendment right to free speech is at play here.
BISMARCK — The winner of the Republican primary for U.S. House in North Dakota is sticking to a late campaign promise.
Hold the person or persons for election interference in her race responsible.It centers around text messages sent out on election day saying Julie Fedorchak dropped out of the race.
The North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office said they could not say with 100% certainty, but they believe this may be the first case of election interference in a North Dakota race.
With her primary night celebration over, Fedorchak spent the day consulting with legal advisers about, what she calls, election interference and fraud.”You can’t just ignore it just because it didn’t ultimately result in us losing the election or changing the election outcome,” she said.
As voters across the state went to the polls on Tuesday, some received a text message that used edited stories from some of the state’s biggest news outlets announcing Fedorchak was dropping out of the race.
She is filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and possibly police.
Attempts to call the number received an automated answer that the line is not in service.
“We feel it’s our responsibility to pursue this, get to the bottom of it, and hold the people who did it accountable,” Fedorchak said.
“The First Amendment will probably strain to protect the speech inherent in this text message,” said Steve Morrison, a professor of criminal and constitution law at the University of North Dakota School of Law.
He says there are state and federal laws regarding election interference. However, Morrison says you need to mix in the First Amendment’s guaranteed right to free speech.
“You need some sort of coercion, force, or threat to make election interference a crime,” he said.
Morrison believes as technology evolves we will likely see more cases like this, which is why despite winning easily with 46% of the vote, Fedorchak does not plan to drop the issue.
“Safe elections are the foundation of our democracy. We have to fight to keep them safe in a way people can trust them,” she said.
Fedorchak’s top challenger Rick Becker denies knowing who was behind the text.
With still some uncertainty about who will handle the investigation, it’s unclear what type of consequence anyone behind the messages could face.