Montana Free Press
Montana's independent nonprofit news source.
Welcome to Montana Free Press’ live blog for the 2026 primary elections. Our team followed Tuesday’s election results from Great Falls, Billings, Kalispell, Helena, Missoula, Bozeman and beyond. We’ll continue providing major updates on Wednesday as results continue to roll in.
Election nights can be full of surprises, including the occasional hiccup at the polls. If you ran into long lines, confusion, problems with your ballot or anything else you think we should know about, we’d love to hear from you. Send us tips, photos, questions or observations at [email protected].
The race between Ryan Busse and Sam Forstag in the Democratic primary for Montana’s Western Congressional District is still too close to call. With 87% of the votes in, Forstag has a slight edge, with about 20,000 votes. Busse is trailing by fewer than 1,000. The other two candidates, Russell Cleveland and Matt Rains, are a distant third and fourth, respectively.
According to a map maintained by The Associated Press, a large chunk of Forstag’s votes have come from Missoula County. Busse, meanwhile, held a strong lead in Gallatin County, which includes Bozeman. Just 52% percent of votes have been counted in Flathead County, Busse’s home turf.
Montana Free Press is expecting more ballots early Wednesday morning. Reporters will be up at 5 a.m. to check for results. The night shift, meanwhile, is headed to bed.
— Zeke Lloyd, reporting from Helena
Jeff Pattison, a Glasgow farmer and rancher who served in the Montana Legislature in the early aughts, won the primary for the largest Public Service Commission district in the state by a more than 30 percentage point margin.
At 10:11 p.m., the Associated Press called the race for Pattison over Great Falls accountant and legislator Jeremy Trebas.
Pattison told Montana Free Press that he appreciates the voters who put their trust in him and he’s looking forward to keeping electricity and natural gas rates affordable and sustainable for the hundreds of thousands of Montanans who are served by monopoly utilities such as NorthWestern Energy and Montana-Dakota Utilities.
“Ratepayers are my priority,” Pattison. “They’re the ones that elected me.” He added that he aims to bring transparency and honesty to the commission, “and I’ll always be accessible.”
Trebas said he was confounded by the vote gap that emerged between himself and Pattison given that he campaigned across the district, which spans parts or all of a 26-county swath of central and eastern Montana.
The PSC-5 race remained too close to call as of 11:30 p.m.
—Amanda Eggert, reporting from Bozeman
Jason Ellsworth, a state senator who has been embroiled in scandal and an ongoing criminal case, lost his Republican primary for the state House, according to the Associated Press.
Former Senate President Ellsworth lost to Rep. Jerry Schillinger, R-Circle, by 71 percentage points and 99% of votes reported. Ellsworth secured 483 votes compared to Schillinger’s 2,949 as of this report.
Ellsworth has represented Ravalli County since 2019, but he was running for a district hundreds of miles away in Eastern Montana by using an address in Ismay where he said he splits his time.
Ellsworth allegedly tried to secure a no-bid contract for a longtime friend using state money he had control over, which spurred his Senate colleagues to ban him for life from the chamber and led to an ongoing criminal case brought by the Montana Department of Justice. Ellsworth pleaded not guilty in that case.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Bozeman
After spending the night trailing Ryan Busse, Sam Forstag pulled ahead by 893 votes. People stood up and cheered inside the Union Club Bar when the latest batch of election results updated on a projector screen. As of midnight, 82% of votes across the district were counted, according to The Associated Press.
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
One of Montana’s most powerful lawmakers and adversary of his own political party, Conrad Republican Rep. Llew Jones, won his GOP primary Tuesday night in a closely watched legislative contest.
Jones beat Rep. Zack Wirth, R-Wolf Creek, by 12 points in the contest for Senate District 9, according to the Associated Press.
Divisions among Republicans has been one of the leading stories in Montana politics in recent years. The SD9 race is one of a number of heated and expensive Republican primary elections that have been months in the making after divisions among GOP legislators were deepened during the 2025 legislative session.
The most notable races include more centrist Republicans who are being flanked to the right by candidates that have gotten the endorsement of the Montana Republican Party. The contest between Jones and Wirth is the flagship example of that theme, as Jones is the leader of the centrist faction and a longtime thorn in the side of the far-right. His opponents tried, unsuccessfully, to topple him this cycle.
Jones will take on Democrat Noy Holland in the general election.
If Jones prevails in the general election, both his adversaries and allies have said that he will continue to hold an outsized influence on the policies and strategy at the Capitol.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Bozeman
State Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, defeated Democratic challenger Jade-Heather Ackerman in the race for a state Senate seat.
With 73% of votes counted, Running Wolf won with a 74% lead over Ackerman’s 26%, according to The Associated Press. Running Wolf’s wife, Lona Running Wolf, is running unopposed for his state House seat.
Another incumbent member of the American Indian Caucus, Rep. Thedis Crowe, D-Browning, was also ahead of her challenger, Adrien Owen Wagner. With 70% of votes counted, Crowe had a 62% lead against Wagner’s 38%.
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
With 99% of the results in, there are only nine votes — or two-fifths of a percentage point — separating two incumbent Bozeman Democrats vying for a noteworthy state Senate seat in Gallatin County.
As of this report, Rep. Becky Edwards is trailing Rep. Kelly Kortum by the razor thin margin, according to the Associated Press. In Montana Democratic politics, incumbents do not typically challenge each other in primaries. In this instance, both House lawmakers decided to make a bid for the Senate.
When race outcomes are this close, they can end up being recounted if the trailing candidate requests a recount by posting a bond with the county to cover the cost. Edwards did not immediately respond Tuesday night when asked if she would pursue a recount.
This would be the second recount in Gallatin County in two years after Bozeman Democratic Rep. Scott Rosenzweig’s Republican opponent requested a recount in their 2024 Senate race when Rosenzweig led by 20 votes. After the recount, that lead narrowed to 17 and Rosenzweig still prevailed.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Bozeman
The small crowd of about 25 people in the Rialto Bar in downtown Helena roared when Air Force veteran and first-time candidate Alani Bankhead won a five-way Democratic primary in the U.S. Senate at about 9:50 p.m. Now, with two-thirds of votes in, Bankhead has about 34,000 votes, roughly 8,000 more than the second place candidate, Reilly Neill.
After the race was called, Bankhead gave a speech to a small gaggle of reporters and fans. She criticized billionaires, saying they wielded too much power, and swore her allegiance to everyday Montanans.
“This country, and this state, were not built by the elites, they were built by the underdogs, by people who were underestimated, people who were knocked down and stood back up, people who worked with their hands, people who knew hardship, people who kept going anyway,” Bankhead said.
Bankhead thanked her husband and her campaign staff, which included seven people during the primary. She said she expects that number to grow during the general election.
— Zeke Lloyd, reporting from Helena
Lance FourStar, the director of the American Indian Caucus was trailing behind his Democratic challenger Natalie O’Neal after 10:00 p.m. With 44% of votes counted, O’Neal was leading with 63.7% compared to FourStar’s 36.3%, according to The Associated Press. Voter margins in the race for the state House seat are slim, with O’Neal leading by just 43 votes.
FourStar was a consultant on state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy’s campaign for Montana’s Eastern Congressional District. In April, when Democratic leaders announced Windy Boy’s campaign was suspended amid allegations of sexual abuse, FourStar initially lamented the loss of a candidate who, he told MTFP, could “have done some really, really good work.” When Windy Boy restarted his campaign in May, FourStar distanced himself, telling MTFP he was no longer working with Windy Boy’s campaign.
“It’s not my baggage to carry,” he told MTFP at the time.
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
Brian Miller, a Helena attorney, won a three-way Democratic primary for the Eastern U.S. Congressional District, defeating Great Falls farrier Sam Lux and State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder. With 71% of the votes counted, Miller had about 18,000 votes, a roughly 10,000-vote lead over Lux.
Miller will face Republican incumbent Troy Downing, who won the district by a 30 percentages points in 2024.
Lux and Miller hosted a joint watch party in Great Falls at the Magpie, a bar and eatery in downtown Great Falls. Miller told Montana Free Press on Tuesday night that it was “laid back evening” and that he was already focused on his general election opponent.
“I know Troy Downing is a very nice guy, but he’s not doing enough for the people of Eastern Montana,” Miller said.
Lux and Miller told MTFP that they had agreed the defeated candidate would support the Democratic nominee, no matter who won. Lux told MTFP Tuesday night that he stood by that commitment.
“He’s got not only my full support but every bit of my spare time over the next six months,” Lux said.
Miller said he was grateful for Lux’s support and applauded his campaign.
Windy Boy did not respond to a request for comment from MTFP.
— Zeke Lloyd, reporting from Helena
Democratic Senate Candidate Reilly Neill all but conceded around 9:30 p.m. at her election watch party in Livingston. Neill wrapped the party up as one of her opponents, Alani Bankhead, was pulling away with 10 more points as of this report.
“We’re just really thankful to the Montana voters,” Neill said to the press, her friends, family and campaign staff.
She said that she doesn’t think she will win tonight, but explained that in 2012 she went to bed believing she had lost her primary election for the state Legislature only to wake up in the middle of the night to find she won.
Neill blamed her predicted loss in part on the millions of dollars that flowed into the race supporting Bankhead in the final weeks leading up to the primary.
“I really didn’t think that Montanans could be bought,” Neill said.
Flanked by her 17-year-old son and her husband nearby, Neill said that she will continue to focus on her family and community.
As her remarks slowed, her ally Jesse Mullen, a 2024 Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, raised his pint of beer.
“To Reilly,” Mullen said. “To Reilly,” the others responded.
– Victoria Eavis, reporting from Livingston
The Donald Trump-endorsed talk radio host Aaron Flint won the Republican nomination for the Western Congressional District on Tuesday night, according to an Associated Press race call. Flint beat the current Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, Flathead-based doctor Al Olszewski and retired teacher Ray Curtis.
Flint is the second Trump-endorsed candidate to win their primary in Montana tonight, joining Kurt Alme who secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
Besting Jacobsen is a notable feat, as she has easily won multiple elections before this year. What’s more, she has twice received the most votes of any Republican on the ballot, including more than Trump.
The Western Congressional District was created after the 2020 census, and it has always been held by Rep. Ryan Zinke, making Flint the first Republican to run for the seat in the general election other than Zinke.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Livingston
Cheers rang out in the Union Club Bar, where Sam Forstag’s campaign is headquartered for night, as votes for Missoula County started to roll in, narrowing Ryan Busse’s initial lead.
“It’s what we expected,” campaign spokesperson Brandon DeMars said, looking at results projected on a screen inside the bar, as Girl Freak, a rock band featuring Forstag’s sister Sophia, played. “Missoula is his home turf, and there’s still a lot of Missoula left to count. We’re feeling pretty good.”
As of 9:03 p.m., with 53% votes counted, according to the Associated Press, Busse carried 36.8% of votes and Forstag carried 33%.
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
About 40 people mingled in downtown Helena’s Rialto Bar, where the Lewis and Clark County Central Committee hosted a watch party for candidates from the area. Alani Bankhead, a U.S. Senate candidate, joined Benjamin Kuiper, a candidate for state Senate District 81, and Kevin Hamm, who’s running for District 5 of the Public Service Commission.
Three large televisions opposite the bar streamed updates on races, including Montana’s U.S. Senate primary, from MS NOW, formerly MSNBC. When the screens showed Bankhead’s early lead over primary competitor Reilly Neill, the bar erupted in cheers. With 39% of the votes counted, Bankhead has about 19,500 votes, about 4,000 more than Neill.
Political mailers have fueled speculation that Bankhead might drop out of the race so that independent Seth Bodnar has a better shot at defeating Republican nominee Kurt Almee, who The Associated Press declared the winner of his primary minutes after polls closed.
Asked if she planned to drop out if she wins the nomination, Bankhead reiterated the response (almost verbatim) that she has given to press in the past.
“Hell no,” Bankhead said. “If you write that, put the ‘hell’ in there.”
— Zeke Lloyd, reporting from Helena
After less than 30 minutes since polls closed, the Associated Press called the U.S. Senate Republican primary for Kurt Alme, a former U.S. District attorney who was handpicked to run by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.
As of this writing, Alme was leading by over 60 percentage points, but that figure will change as more votes are reported.
In a press release Alme called the victory “the honor of my life.”
“With President Trump’s endorsement, we’re ready to go win this thing and make life more affordable for Montanans, make our communities safer, and protect our Montana way of life,” Alme said in the release.
Daines was expected to run for reelection, but just minutes before the candidate filing deadline, he withdrew and Alme filed to run, a move that ostensibly blocked other possible candidates from filing in time. That said, two other Republican candidates had already filed to run before that last minute switch-up.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Livingston
More than 100 people, including many younger people, crowded inside the Union Club Bar in Missoula as former smokejumper and Democratic Congressional candidate Sam Forstag took the stage.
Forstag thanked his supporters and briefly advocated for affordability, specifically mentioning housing and child care. He said he was ready to keep stumping on those issues in the months ahead, if voters helped keep up his campaign’s momentum.
“Let’s not stop now,” he told the crowd. “Let’s have a fun night!”
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
The campaign trail that has led Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate Reilly Neill to the Fainting Goat pub in Livingston on primary election night has been nearly two years in the making.
Neill declared her candidacy for this race immediately after the general election in 2024. Neill said that she has been to each of Montana’s 56 counties over the course of this election and has emphasized reaching rural voters. The main issue constituents told her they’re dealing with? The cost of healthcare.
Standing outside in the wind that Livingston is known for, Neill said she’s thankful for a handful of reporters, friends and staff for coming to her election night watch party, telling the press that she hopes she “doesn’t disappoint” tonight.
Neill is in a primary against four opponents, and a backer of one of those opponents, Alani Bankhead, recently sent out a flurry of campaign mailers in the lead up to election day.
Asked what she thinks of the onslaught, Neill quipped: “Blow winds blow. What do I say?”
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Livingston
Polls closed at 8 p.m. across Montana, though anyone still in line at the top of the hour can still vote. Election staff will now begin the tabulation process, and we may see some early results shortly. I’m staked out at the Montana ExpoPark, Great Falls’ main polling place, where I’ll be waiting to get my hands on local election results hot off the presses.
— Matt Hudson, reporting from Great Falls
About two dozen people gathered on the second floor of the Press Box, a Missoula sportsbar, in support of Russ Cleveland, the St. Regis rancher and former child care executive running for Montana’s Western Congressional House seat. Orange signs reading “Elections are not for sale” were propped up against the bar windows.
Wearing a dark green Wrangler shirt, Cleveland told MTFP he felt good about the race he’d run so far and the night ahead.
“We left it all out on the field,” he said.
Cleveland’s family was in attendance, and his campaign manager boasted that there were “three generations” of people named Russell Cleveland in the room, referring to the candidate’s father and son.
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
Readers following today’s election may have seen — and continue to see — reports about how many absentee ballots have been returned to elections offices. Absentee ballots were mailed out in early May to voters who requested them, and are returned to county elections offices either by mail or in person. Absentee voters don’t vote in person at polling places on election day.
As of 7:08 p.m., election officials had received about 47% of all absentee ballots mailed to voters statewide, according to the Montana Secretary of State’s office. This update is the final update of absentee ballot returns scheduled for today.
Election officials and political observers pay attention to absentee returns as an imprecise proxy for voter turnout. Before full results are tallied, ballot returns provide one of the few measures of how many voters are participating in the election.
What those return rates tell us at this point is fairly limited: Voters are returning ballots at a rate similar to 2022. Whether overall turnout ends up higher or lower than in that election will depend largely on how many voters cast ballots in person and continue to return ballots before polls close at 8 p.m.
Ballot return rates reported so far vary dramatically across the state. Residents of Powder River County, in southeast Montana, have returned nearly 73% of their absentee ballots, while residents of Roosevelt County, in northeast Montana, have returned only 33% of the 2,446 absentee ballots mailed out by the county.
— Jacob Olness, reporting from Billings
With less than one hour left before polls are closed, voter traffic appeared to have lightened up at the City-County Building in Helena.
Plenty of cars continued to filter in and out of the main polling location’s parking lot. But Lewis and Clark County Elections staff told me that, compared to past election seasons, today has felt a bit quieter.
As of about 6 p.m., the county elections office received 18,044 absentee ballots. That figure was slightly less than absentee ballot returns during the 2024 primaries, a presidential election cycle, when the county received 20,868 absentee ballots out of a total of 23,503 votes cast. In 2022, the county recorded around 18,160 absentee ballots cast out of 20,483 total votes.
A few residents were still in the new voter registration line; others popped in quickly to drop off their ballots at the designated drop-off boxes scattered around the building’s first floor. A couple of county sheriff deputies waited in the election office to be dispatched for another round of absentee ballot collection after helping deliver recent batches from some of the Helena-area polling stations. New fun fact to me: I didn’t know election staff needed police escorts to transfer absentee ballots.
Helenans have until 8 p.m. to cast their votes before polls close.
— JoVonne Wagner, reporting from Helena
Staffers at the secretary of state’s office took calls from county election administrators around the state Tuesday afternoon, hours before polls closed. Wrangling voting logistics isn’t always fun, said Elections Director Austin James, but there can be lighthearted moments.
One example: the longstanding friendly rivalry between Treasure and Wibaux county officials about who can finish reporting their election results to the state first. As ballots are processed and reported, state election workers in the Capitol track each county’s progress on a large whiteboard.
— Lauren Miller, reporting from Helena
I ran into Sam Lux, Democratic candidate for Montana’s Eastern Congressional District, at the main Great Falls polling location during the post-workday rush. He was waiting in line with his partner, who had yet to cast her ballot, but said he was among the first poll voters this morning at the Montana ExpoPark, at the Cascade County fairgrounds on the west side of town, alongside about four others.
Lux added that he and one of his primary opponents, Brian Miller, are sharing an election night party in Great Falls and have vowed to work for the other’s campaign if one of them goes ahead to the general. The party’s digital invitation flyer features a handshake logo.
Poll traffic at the ExpoPark has been slow but steady throughout the day. Signature gatherers for Initiative 194, which would limit corporate election spending, are working outside the building.
— Matt Hudson, reporting from Great Falls
Readers following today’s election may have seen — and continue to see — reports about how many absentee ballots have been returned to elections offices. Absentee ballots were mailed out in early May to voters who requested them, and are returned to county elections offices either by mail or in person. Absentee voters don’t vote in person at polling places on election day.
As of 5:07 p.m., election officials had received about 46% of all absentee ballots mailed to voters statewide, according to the Montana Secretary of State’s office. The office expects to release updated numbers for absentee returns at 7 p.m. We will update this post as the new numbers come in.
Election officials and political observers pay attention to absentee returns as an imprecise proxy for voter turnout. Before full results are tallied, ballot returns provide one of the few measures of how many voters are participating in the election.
What those return rates tell us at this point is fairly limited: Voters are returning ballots at a rate similar to 2022. Whether overall turnout ends up higher or lower than in that election will depend largely on how many voters cast ballots in person and continue to return ballots before polls close at 8 p.m.
Ballot return rates reported so far vary dramatically across the state. Residents of Powder River County, in southeast Montana, have returned nearly 70% of their absentee ballots, while residents of adjacent Big Horn County have returned only 31% of the 2,888 absentee ballots mailed out by the county.
— Jacob Olness, reporting from Billings
While Missoula County’s 20 polling places saw “really low” turnout Tuesday morning, the three drive-thru ballot drop off locations and the election center building on Russell Street were busier with a steady stream of voters, election officials said.
About 43% of absentee ballots mailed to Missoula County voters had been returned as of 2 p.m., according to the Montana Secretary of State. Most Missoula County voters will vote absentee in the primary, said Bradley Seaman, the county’s elections administrator. But having the polling places open is good practice for elections staff, as four to eight times as many people will vote in person in November, he said.
Seaman encouraged voters who mailed in their ballots to check their status on MyVoterPageMT.com. If the status does not say “accepted,” absentee voters can vote provisionally at their polling place, also listed on the website, to ensure their vote is counted, he said.
The Elections Center is the only place in Missoula County where residents can register to vote. Election officials have encouraged voters to drop off ballots elsewhere to reduce traffic. Between 1:15 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., several voters left ballots in the drop box outside the Elections Center, while a handful filled out their ballots inside.
“I’m excited we still have same-day registration,” Seaman said.
In May, a Lewis and Clark County District Court judge blocked a law passed by the 2025 Legislature that would have closed voter registration at noon on Election Day. Voter registration and voting hours remain, as they have long been from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone in line by 8 p.m. will have their vote counted, Seaman said.
— Katie Fairbanks, reporting from Missoula
Thousands of Montanans are serving the role of election judge across the state today. There are more than 400 election judges just in Lewis and Clark County this year, according to chief election judge Julia Gustafson. She is pictured here greeting her daughter on Tuesday morning at the Civic Center in Helena while her husband voted.
“‘Judge’ is a funny word,” said Gustafson, who also serves on the Helena City Commission. “We’re the people that make the process happen.”
Judges are responsible for opening and closing the polls, overseeing ballot processing and handling whatever odd voting issues might arise, among other tasks. Anyone can become an elections judge in the county where they’re registered to vote, as long as they complete a training and are neither on the ballot themself nor a close relative of someone who is.
Gustafson noted that one of the more interesting parts of the job is that judges take an oath of office as public servants, but that oath is only in effect for election day.
Asked what inspired her to become an election judge, Gustafson said, “I just love democracy in action.”
— Lauren Miller, reporting from Helena
President Donald Trump late Monday night released a flurry of endorsements of candidates on the ballot in Tuesday primaries across the country, including three Republicans in Montana.
In a Truth Social post, the president endorsed Rep. Troy Downing’s bid to hold his Eastern Congressional District seat for the first time this cycle. (Trump’s endorsement of Downing might seem extraneous, given that the incumbent has no primary challenger on today’s ballot.) Trump also re-upped his endorsements of Western District candidate and talk radio host Aaron Flint, and U.S. Senate candidate and former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme.
All three candidates touted the endorsements in their own social media posts. In a video posted to X, Flint encouraged Montanans to vote while holding a campaign sign reading “TRUMP ENDORSED” in large letters.
One of Flint’s primary opponents is Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, who secured Trump’s endorsement in a 2024 election for secretary of state. Despite not getting Trump’s approval in this race cycle, Jacobsen’s 2026 campaign announcement prominently featured footage of Trump endorsing her in 2024, and the profile picture of her campaign’s Facebook page features Jacobsen and Trump together.
As election results pour in later today, political pundits will be closely analyzing whether a Trump endorsement matters. While Trump’s national favorability ratings have been underwater, many of the Republicans he’s endorsed in other states have succeeded in recent primaries.
The president’s approval rating in Montana is higher, at 49%, than his 37% approval rating nationwide, according to a recent Montana Free Press-Eagleton poll. And about 55% of Montana Republicans said a Trump endorsement would make them more likely to vote for a candidate, according to the same poll. About 39% of Republicans said a Trump endorsement would have no effect.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Bozeman
More than 60 people are vying for just five open seats on the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, and after today’s primary, that field will be narrowed to just 10 candidates. Because tribal councils manage multimillion dollar tribal budgets, set priorities for tribal programming and determine reservation laws and policies, the body deliberates on issues that have significant influence on people’s day-to-day lives.
Tribal governments set their own election schedules, and the Blackfeet Nation is the only tribal government holding a primary election today. Other tribes have their elections in October or November or in other years. On the nine-member Blackfeet tribal council, officials serve staggered four year terms, with elections every two years.
This year, five council incumbents are up for election: Lyle Rutherford, Shelly Hall, Patrick Armstrong, Everett Armstrong and Scott Kipp. State Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, who is not running for reelection to the Legislature, is running for the Seville District seat.
Blackfeet Election Board officials told MTFP on Monday that governmental transparency is often a priority issue among voters. The general council election is June 30.
— Nora Mabie, reporting from Missoula
At the Gallatin County Fairgrounds, polling place manager Susan Swimley cheered when a voter walked in.
“Look! We got a voter. Yay!” Swimley said.
The sight of a single voter at one of Bozeman’s largest polling locations, which was otherwise devoid of voters, excited the longtime polling manager because turnout had been slow on the morning of the primary election. As of 9:30 a.m., when polls had been open for two and a half hours, Swimley said roughly 50 people had voted at the fairgrounds which serve thousands of people across 16 precincts.
Both Swimley and Gallatin County Elections Administrator Eric Semerad told MTFP that they wouldn’t be surprised by low turnout because it is a midterm primary election. Fewer people tend to vote in midterm elections — years when there is not a presidential candidate at the top of the ticket — and even fewer people vote in the primary election of a midterm year.
Semerad, who had spent the morning visiting different polling locations around the county, said the turnout numbers at the fairgrounds were some of the highest he’d seen so far.
In Ravalli County, which includes the town of Hamilton, elections administrator Regina Plettenberg told MTFP by text message that it has similarly been “slow” at voting and late registration locations.
Many Montanans have also already voted absentee in the weeks leading up to election day. As of early Tuesday morning, the Montana Secretary of State’s office had tallied more than 200,000 ballots returned statewide, for a 41% return rate of those mailed out.
— Victoria Eavis, reporting from Bozeman
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