Primary Ballots In Mail To Absentee Voters
Author: MT 43 News Staff Reporter
Primary Ballots in Mail to Absentee Voters
MT 43 News Staff Reporter
Montana’s June 4 primary election is already here for people who vote as absentees. If you are on Broadwater County’s absentee list, your ballot should arrive in the mail next week. Angie Paulsen, clerk and recorder, and election administrator, said they were to be mailed Friday, May 10, the date set for all counties to do it.
Montana voters this year will get primary ballots for three political parties from which to choose only one: Republican, Democratic or Green. And ballots this year will also ask voters to decide if they want to have commissions study the form of our county government and the form of Townsend’s government.
The Republican and Democratic ballots each have candidates for three federal races, seven statehouse posts and two legislative seats. The federal races are for President, U.S. Senate, and District 2 U.S. House. The state races are for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Auditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Supreme Court Clerk, and District 3 Public Service Commissioner. The legislative races are for Representative of House District 77, and Senator of Senate District 39.
All ballots, along with that of the Green party, include the judicial nonpartisan races for Supreme Court Chief Justice, Supreme Court Justice #3, and two District Court judgeships.
The only political race on the Green party ballot is that for the U.S. Senate.
The most crowded race is the Republican shootout for the U.S. House with nine candidates. They include two current state officials, Auditor Troy Downing and Public Instruction Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. Also in the running is former Congressman Denny Rehberg, a Billings businessman who represented Montana’s at-large seat in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2013. The position opened up when the incumbent Republican, Matt Rosendale, dropped out of the race.
Of special interest to Broadwater County residents are the races involving County Attorney Cory Swanson and Townsend School Superintendent Susie Hedalen. Swanson is running for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court while Hedalen is running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Not on the primary ballot are contests for two Broadwater County offices. Darrel Folkvord is seeking election to a second term as a county commissioner, challenged by Jesse Swenson. Audrey Plymale and Kelsi Anderson are running for Clerk of the District Court. Those nonpartisan races will be on the November general election ballot.
The primary election will almost certainly result in a November showdown for the U.S. Senate between incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and Republican Tim Sheehy. The two have been slugging it out for months with gazillion-dollar TV ad campaigns. No doubt the viewing public will be treated to more of the same for the next six months. The Green party’s entry of candidates only in that race is widely viewed by Democrats as a ploy orchestrated by Republicans to syphon votes away from Tester in the GOP’s campaign to gain control of the Senate.
Article Images
Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize image
PhotoCredit: Layout Editor
click on link to view pdf: VoteBanner_20240510.pdf
