University of North Dakota Narrows List to Three

After a 5 day voting period, the University of North Dakota has narrowed the list of potential nicknames from 5 down to 3.

Fighting Hawks, Roughriders, and NoDaks make the final cut of nicknames in the ongoing saga of replacing the Fighting Sioux nickname that was banned by the NCAA back in 2012.

The final 3 were determined after 5 days of online voting from current students, alumni, and season ticket holders. Fighting Hawks received more votes than Roughriders and NoDaks. The final ballot will be up for vote from Nov. 2nd to Nov 6th. Originally, the final  ballot was suppose to be between the top 2, but with just 116 votes between 2nd and 3rd, the University felt it was necessary to include the 3rd place name in the runoff ballot.

In a press release, UND President Robert Kelley said:

We appreciate the participation and input of the voters and are pleased that we have moved forward to three final choices. We look forward to completing the last important step of this process through the runoff vote.

The runoff vote will be similar to the original voting process with a new nickname coming at the end of the process. All eligible voters will receive an email with details on how to vote on the final name.