Most recently he has been aiding local election officials' training on new electronic pollbooks to be distributed to counties in coming weeks.

The pollbooks and previously distributed new voting equipment, including 425 ballot scanners replacing 15-year-old machines, will be in place for the June 9 statewide primary election.

'I want to be as responsive as I can'

North Dakota's voter ID law, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2017, drew controversy and legal action in 2018 over a perceived burden on Native Americans in requiring a residential street address to be able to vote. Street addresses often don't exist on Native American reservations.

Newby said he "really was struck" to learn at a conference in 2018 of the "address difficulties" Native Americans face.

"When you talk about mailing a ballot, that's all well and good unless maybe they don't have an address," Newby said. "When you talk about polling places and ... typically people vote within 5 miles of their home, but in some areas of the country and nearing reservations ... it's incredibly onerous to get to a polling place, and I just had no idea of those issues."