This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday.
An effort by supporters of Cascade County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant to reinstate the election oversight duties stripped from her by county commissioners in December has proved unsuccessful. Petitioners looking to put the issue up for a reconsideration vote on the June primary ballot were still thousands of signatures short of the total required to qualify as of a late March deadline.
The Cascade County Commission voted 2-1 on a resolution removing Merchant as county election administrator in December, leaving her the county clerk but transferring election oversight duties to a non-partisan commission appointee. Backlash from Merchant’s supporters was swift and fierce, with many accusing the commission in subsequent public comment periods of undermining the will of voters in the 2022 election that installed Merchant as clerk by a slim margin of less than 40 votes. Under Montana law, citizens had 90 days to gather enough signatures to put the question of repealing the resolution on the next countywide ballot.
When Montana Free Press checked with the county elections office the week before last, one day ahead of the deadline, the petition still hadn’t met the roughly 7,300-signature certification threshold. Jeni Dodd, a Great Falls resident who spearheaded the effort, confirmed for MTFP last week that last she heard, petitioners had managed to collect fewer than 2,000 signatures. Dodd attributed the shortfall to the suddenness of the commission’s action, lack of widespread awareness of the petition effort and what she characterized as a narrow timeframe allowed in state law.
“It wasn’t that folks weren’t interested,” Dodd wrote via email. “I believe the failure was mainly a matter of timing and circumstance.”
Local elections in Cascade County will continue to be overseen by Terry Thompson, the former CEO of the Great Falls Association of Realtors, who commissioners unanimously appointed to the new position in February.
LATEST STORIES
Why Gianforte’s reelection bid has drawn a challenge from the right
Greg Gianforte is stumping as a pragmatic conservative in an election year dominated by culture war issues. That’s helped earn him a challenge from the GOP’s right flank.
Addiction treatment homes say funding fixes don’t go far enough
Montana health officials have started a voucher system to help people with substance use disorders move into transitional housing as they rebuild their lives. But those who run the clinical houses said the new money isn’t enough to fix a financial hole after a prior state revamp.
June primary ballots give voters a chance to re-think their local government structures
This year’s June primary ballots include a little-understood, once-a-decade question that gives voters the ability to launch a multi-year review of their local government structures. Local advocates are pushing for “yes” votes this year in Bozeman and Billings.