Big Fork Fire bond and levy approved in Flathead County canvass

Flathead County election staff told commissioners on Sept. 18 that both the Big Fork Fire District bond and levy were approved by voters in the Sept. 9 all-mail election, and the board voted to approve the official canvass.

Paula Buff, Flathead County election manager, presented the canvass materials and read the statutory canvass requirements under MCA 13-15-401 and MCA 13-15-404, then summarized the results: total active registered voters in the district numbered 4,201 and turnout was 46 percent with 1,937 total ballots cast. "Both the Big Fork Fire bond and levy passed," Buff said, reporting the contest totals.

Buff gave the raw counts: the bond received 1,047 yes votes and 845 no votes (45 undervotes, 1,937 contest total); the levy received 1,147 yes votes and 779 no votes (10 undervotes, 1,937 contest total). She also reported county-level breakdowns used to reconcile the totals: for the Flathead ballot style the bond was 846–684 and the levy was 924–633; for the Lake County ballot style the bond was 201–161 and the levy was 223–146.

The presentation covered provisional and rejected ballots. Buff said Flathead County rejected 31 absentee ballots for signature mismatch or missing signature and 91 ballots were received after the election cutoff and treated as late; Lake County rejected six absentee ballots for signature issues and had 24 undeliverable returns. One Flathead provisional ballot and five Lake County ballots that arrived after pickup were accepted in the post-election tabulation.

Buff explained landowner ballots in special-purpose district elections: "Individuals who own property within the district who are not registered voters and potentially not residents of Flathead or Lake County . . . are eligible to vote . . . after providing proof of payment of their property taxes," and said those landowner ballots are tracked manually outside the statewide ElectMT voter database (10 landowner ballots from Flathead, 2 from Lake were accepted and included in the totals).

When a commissioner asked what follow-up is done for undeliverable ballots, Buff described the statutory notice process: staff scans undeliverable ballots, generates a form letter with business-reply mail and sends it to the address on file so the post office’s yellow forwarding tag or a returned letter will indicate a move and allow the voter to update their address or pick up the ballot in person.

After the canvass presentation a commissioner moved to approve the canvass of returns for the Big Fork Fire bond and levy and another commissioner seconded the motion. The commission voted and the chair stated the motion carries. The meeting then adjourned.

The canvass materials reviewed by the board included tabulated results, ballot-statistics reports from ElectMT and Lake County, and manual landowner ballot tracking sheets used to reconcile the 1,937 total ballots in the contest.