Originally published in the 10/5/18 print edition of Yellowstone County News.
BILLINGS — Because the ballot is two pages long for the general election on Nov. 6, it will take two days for the Election Office in Yellowstone County to count the ballots, reported County Elections Administrator Bret Rutherford to County Commissioners, last Thursday. Most of the results will be in at the end of Election Day, however, because the strategy is to count the first page of the ballot first, which has all of the candidate contests. Results for the initiatives won’t be known until the second day.
The dilemma is one that could be resolved if the state would change election law to allow mail-in voter envelopes received prior to Election Day to be opened and flattened, prior to election day. Rutherford and Montana’s Clerk and Recorders have a resolution proposed to ask the next State Legislature to do just that. While not all counties have the same problem, the more populated counties do, and it is a problem that will persist as the population grows. Other states have adopted similar changes to law that expedite the process, said Rutherford.
The two-page ballot will be mailed out to all of Yellowstone County’s absentee voters on Oct. 12. Some 60,000 ballots are expected to have to be ... Read full story online or in print here.
