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Tuesday’s primary election made for a late night for the reporting staff here at Montana Free Press — and an even later one for many of the county election workers tasked with counting votes. It’s a demanding gig to ensure all those votes get counted, and even with the results now clear for most races across the state, county election officials are still busy preparing for provisional ballot counts, post-election audits and official canvasses of the returns.
One of the things we were keeping an eye on this week was how election processes were running. What we saw and heard was about what we’ve come to expect from Montana elections: mostly smooth, with a few bumps and late nights. The last election results email MTFP got from the Yellowstone County Elections Office came in just before 6 a.m. Wednesday. And Bradley Seaman, Missoula County’s election administrator, estimated he’d worked nearly 30 straight hours before the votes were finally counted — in part because of a new state law that requires election-night vote counts to be conducted without adjournment.
Seaman also attributed the late night to some growing pains involving Montana’s new election software, ElectMT, which had its first federal election debut this week after use in smaller local elections last year. Seaman told MTFP that verifying voter signatures took quite a bit longer with the new system than its predecessor — as much as 40 minutes longer for a batch of 25 ballots. Yellowstone County Election Administrator Ginger Aldrich told MTFP her office experienced delays as well, noting that while they weren’t as lengthy as those faced in Missoula, “every second counts” when the public is waiting for results.
Aldrich and Seaman both noted that the Montana Secretary of State’s Office has already vowed to address the issue ahead of November’s general election. Otherwise, Seaman said, the primary had a “good flow” in Missoula. Aldrich said the night went “pretty well” overall in the Billings area too. Additionally, while Cascade County’s newly appointed election administrator Terry Thompson said she’s hoping to recruit more election judges in time for the fall, she was “extremely pleased” with how Tuesday’s process panned out.
Secretary of state spokesperson Richie Melby acknowledged Friday that, as with any election, there will be opportunities to smooth out wrinkles as local election officials provide feedback to state officials. “I’m sure there will be ideas and suggestions,” he wrote in an email.
Seaman put the situation a bit more succinctly: “It’s just a learning curve.”
—Alex Sakariassen, Reporter
Glad You Asked 🙋🏻
In the wake of Tuesday’s primary election, a sharp-eyed candidate in Great Falls asked us about the legislative district mapping feature on the secretary of state’s election results portal, which he noted showed district boundaries that didn’t match the new Montana legislative districts adopted last year. After a little sleuthing, we confirmed that the districts displayed on the website did, in fact, correspond to the state’s now-outdated political map.
MTFP contacted the Secretary of State’s Office Friday morning to ask about the origins and impacts of the cartographic error. In an email response, spokesperson Richie Melby assured us the issue was isolated to the election results portal and did not affect the actual ballots cast by voters across the state. Ballots, Melby wrote, are generated by the office’s Total Address system, which houses the boundaries used to determine voters’ districts and is separate from the system used to populate the results map. Melby added that “the vendor is currently in the process of updating the election results maps,” saying the update should be complete on Friday.
—Alex Sakariassen, Reporter
By the Numbers 🔢
The number of Montana cities and towns where voters approved local government reviews in Tuesday’s election. That’s about one-third of all incorporated municipalities in the state. Twelve counties also passed reviews.
Offered to voters once every decade, the local government review takes place over two years if approved. In those areas that passed reviews, the next step will be the creation of a study commission made up of residents. Local jurisdictions set the size of the commission, and commissioners will be selected during the November general election.
While the number of reviews that passed isn’t unprecedented compared to past results, many communities large and small across the state are embarking on the process this year.
READ MORE (and see if your town is on the list): One-third of Montana municipalities to review local governments after primary vote.
—Matt Hudson, MTFP Local Reporter
Follow up 🕝
Bozeman Health, the primary health care system serving southwest Montana, announced this week that construction is underway on its first inpatient psychiatric unit.
The 14-bed adult wing at the Deaconess Regional Medical Center in Bozeman is expected to open sometime in 2025, though the hospital has yet to specify a season, month or date. The unit will require hiring additional staff, a process the hospital has said is ongoing, and will also operate with the help of current employees. Currently, there are no inpatient psychiatric beds available at the Bozeman hospital.
In a Wednesday email, Bozeman Health CEO Dr. Kathryn Bertany said the hospital has added dozens of mental health professionals to its staff since 2017, when it employed only one psychiatrist.
“We are committed to bringing inpatient behavioral health services to Deaconess Regional Medical Center in Bozeman to support patients who need acute inpatient care in order to stay close to home and thus close to their local support systems as this will facilitate optimal outcomes,” Bertany said.
For several years, community health groups and advocates in Bozeman have clashed, negotiated, and, eventually, coalesced around over the need for an inpatient psychiatric wing at the local hospital.
Mental illness is consistently at the top of the list of public health concerns in the Bozeman area. As Montana Free Press reported in 2021, the lack of hospital beds for people in a mental health crisis has put strain on other emergency services, including law enforcement, hospitals in other towns, the court system and the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs.
A spokesperson for the hospital, Erin Brester, said the unit would only serve voluntary patients for the time being, as opposed to involuntary commitments ordered by a judge when a person is at risk to themselves or others. But Brester said the design of the wing allows the “potential for involuntary care provision in the future.”
Prominent officials from Bozeman and Gallatin County, including County Attorney Audrey Cromwell and Bozeman Mayor Terry Cunningham, signaled that the wing is a significant part of patching gaps in local mental health services.
“I’m glad to see this work underway,” Cunningham said in the Wednesday press release. “It is an important step in helping to increase access and the quality of care for people in crisis and to address our behavioral health needs as a city. There is a vital need for this kind of facility in Bozeman.”
—Mara Silvers, Reporter
Wildlife Watch 🦬
Yellowstone National Park is initiating a major shift in its strategy for managing bison, one that could mean larger herds, expanded hunting opportunities beyond park borders, and more bison transfers to tribal governments.
The park prepared its new plan in response to research regarding brucellosis, a bacterial disease that can cause cattle to abort their young. That research has concluded brucellosis transmission to livestock — a concern that has underpinned the park’s bison-management approach for more than two decades — is more likely attributable to elk than bison.
The park, along with other federal, state and tribal agencies, has historically limited bison expansion outside park boundaries. For years, the animals have been subject to a capture-and-quarantine strategy, hazed back inside the park, shipped to slaughterhouses or shot by hunters, mostly tribal members.
Groups like the Montana Stockgrowers Association have long pushed to limit bison presence outside the park, arguing that risks associated with brucellosis transmission, fence damage and forage loss should preclude the park and other decision-makers from taking a more hands-off approach to bison management.
The park’s new plan, technically an environmental impact statement, preserves its ability to “take more aggressive management actions” in coordination with other federal, state and tribal partners working under the Interagency Bison Management Plan if the risk of bison mingling with livestock increases. The plan allows for some hazing and “ship-to-slaughter” operations as needed — bison management techniques that have drawn intense criticism from wildlife advocates.
The park’s plan will manage the herd for 3,500-6,000 animals, a modest expansion from the status quo alternative based on the 24-year-old existing plan. A third alternative the park analyzed but didn’t select would take a more laissez-faire approach to bison management, treating them more like elk and allowing natural selection and bison dispersal to play a larger role in herd distribution and size.
The plan’s release comes after several years of tension between the federal government and Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration over bison management. The U.S. Interior Department in March of last year pledged to invest $25 million in bison restoration efforts, citing their ecological, historical and tribal importance. In 2022, Gianforte joined the stockgrowers and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen in opposing an effort to expand bison grazing on Bureau of Land Management-administered land in north-central Montana, and the prior year the state agreed not to explore bison introduction on state-managed land for at least a decade as part of a lawsuit settlement.
The park administration is expected to formally adopt the new plan by issuing a record of decision at the conclusion of a 30-day wait period.
—Amanda Eggert, Reporter
Happenings 📅
In Missoula, a coalition of nonprofit organizations believes it has crafted a plan that will help move the needle on Montana’s childcare conundrum. The United Way and nonprofit Zero to Five Missoula — in league with state, local and private sector partners — have spearheaded an effort to repurpose the city’s dormant Cold Springs Elementary School as a consolidated childcare hub. Six independent childcare businesses will call the space home, sharing infrastructure and utilizing a joint waiting list and enrollment portal to help drive down overhead costs. Local employers will be able to join the new Missoula Child Care Advantage collaborative to offer their employees a childcare benefit, and community members in need of childcare can join the waitlist as well.
Next week, the public will have a chance to glimpse this initiative up close via an open house from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on June 13. The event will give supporters and interested families an opportunity to tour the facility and meet the individual providers who will operate there. In a press release announcing the event, Missoula Child Care Advantage also noted that attendees looking for childcare can join the waiting list during their tour. The open house will take place in the southwest wing of Cold Springs Elementary School at 2625 Briggs St., on the south end of town.
—Alex Sakariassen
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
There was an election. Our summary of the results is here.
On Our Radar 
Amanda — If you, like me, occasionally struggle to understand what kinds of plastics are recyclable and what kinds aren’t, you might enjoy this interactive story that leads with a “trashy garbage-sorting game” — and explains why different places have different plastic recycling regimes.
JoVonne — The Pulp recently covered a story about how Missoula and the Mission Valley are seemingly overrun with cats. A wildlife science analyst said the cat crisis has a significant impact on local wildlife.
Matt — The New York Times covered the life and death of BNN Breaking News, which had the look of a big-time international news brand but faltered through the irresponsible use of artificial intelligence. AI content generators repurposed copyrighted images, assigned human bylines to AI articles and in one case invented a panelist at a literature festival, according to The Times.
Mara — The Montana state health department has extended the deadline for veterans to fill out an online survey about their long-term care needs. Those who’d like to participate can find it at this link or through the state’s website before July 15.
Eric — It’s been an awfully long election week for a lot of us. So here’s my all-time favorite internet cat video (which is definitely, absolutely, I promise not an apt metaphor for how certain political candidates performed Tuesday night).
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