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GRAND FORKS -- The final round of voting on the new University of North Dakota nickname came to a close Monday.
Stakeholders had until 11:59 p.m. to cast their ballot for either Fighting Hawks or Roughriders.
UND has given no indication when it will release results of the vote, which President Robert Kelley previously said would be binding. After the NCAA threatened sanctions and the old Fighting Sioux nickname was retired in late 2012, the school has played simply using an interlocking "UND" logo, going by either UND or North Dakota.
More than a year ago, a task force met to begin outlining the procedure to pick a new nickname. This spring, the public submitted nearly 5,000 names. Nearly one-third of the submissions were “North Dakota” or a variation of UND, but Kelley ultimately chose to leave the option off the ballot.
Five possible nicknames were on the ballot for the first round of voting. The second ballot included Fighting Hawks, Roughriders and Nodaks. In both rounds of voting, Fighting Hawks and Roughriders received the most votes.
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Last Thursday, stakeholders could begin casting ballots at noon. About 82,000 people were eligible to vote.
Once voting is tabulated from the final round, UND could begin the process of securing the proper trademark and registrations, developing a logo and implementing the name and logo. UND has not provided details on how it would develop a corresponding logo for the winning name.
