Voters in North Dakota rejected a measure to increase the size of the state’s higher education governing board, but the fate of a measure to change Nevada’s board was up in the air.
Lost in the drama and angst of the presidential election on Tuesday, nearly three-fourths of voters in North Dakota rejected a state ballot measure that would have almost doubled the size of that state’s higher education commission.
But with about a third of the votes yet to be counted early this morning, voters in Nevada were split over a measure that would strip the state’s Board of Regents of its constitutional autonomy, paving the way for legislators to make reforms like beginning to elect members to the higher education governing board.
In New Mexico, about two-thirds of voters supported another measure authorizing the state to issue and sell $156.4 million in higher education bonds to fund capital improvement projects, including the construction of a new College of Nursing and Population Health Building on the University of New Mexico’s Albuquerque campus.
Meanwhile, Republicans picked up a governor’s seat in Montana. Republican congressman Greg Gianforte defeated Democratic lieutenant governor Mike Cooney in a race that had been considered a toss-up to replace Democratic governor Steve Bullock, who lost his bid for the Senate.