Concerns over School Board Election shake public confidence in process

Comments at Friday’s emergency meeting of the library’s Board of Trustees suggest that public confidence in Cascade County’s electoral system has been badly shaken, and that Great Falls city residents are deeply divided over the confusion surrounding the May 2 school board election and who should take responsibility.

On Wednesday, the day after an election that saw delayed poll openings, confusion over the handling of voter registration lists, overdue election results and allegations of incompetence and voter suppression, the Great Falls Public Library Board of Trustees called for an emergency meeting to discuss the library’s election legal strategy.

The library is facing a pivotal mill levy election in less than a month that may determine its footprint within Great Falls for decades to come. If the library’s request for an annual $1.6 million increase in funding is rejected by voters on June 6 it will be forced to reduce its afterschool programs for children and parents, eliminate services and programing for seniors and the disabled, and put an end to computer and technology classes for job seekers and college bound teens. Library operations would be cut back to just five days a week, and outreach services to daycares, schools, and homebound seniors would be slashed.

The upcoming library election is likely to be close. The question before trustees at Friday’s emergency library board meeting was whether to grant authority to the library director, in consultation with the library board chair, to implement a legal strategy if it appears the Cascade County Elections Office is not meeting election protocols.

That legal strategy could potentially include asking a district court judge to oversee the administration of the June 6 election, which could be implemented as soon as May 17, when absentee ballots are scheduled to be mailed out. Library Director Susie McIntyre told the audience of about 40 people who attended Friday’s emergency meeting that the library board had already voted to engage the Graybill law firm to begin developing a legal strategy, and that the firm was already working on investigating issues of concern.

McIntyre later added that the Graybill law firm has agreed to represent the Great Falls Public Library pro bono, and that city taxpayers will not be asked to pay for that representation.

“We are not suing for damages,” McIntyre said. “The goal of the library is to conduct a legal and fair election.”

“We have not yet had a chance to review the ballot or their instructions,” she went on to explain. “We do not know if they have been printed or what the plan is for their printing. We need to ensure that the absentee ballots and their instructions are correct.

“We want to make sure they are mailed out properly on May 17, and we want to ensure that all absentee ballot voters receive one ballot and will be able to return their ballot. We want to make sure that all registered voters are able to vote and that the ballots are received, accepted … and the signatures logged correctly on the Secretary of State’s web site and counted properly. We need to be able to provide clear communication so that the public is aware of the election and the proper procedures for the vote.”

McIntyre’s explanation of the motivating factors contributing to the library board’s decision did not go unchallenged. Cascade County Commissioner Rae Grulkowski, who is a non-voting representative to the library board, asked if McIntyre had approached the county attorney regarding claims that the school board election was conducted improperly.

“Did you approach the county attorney to see if there is any legitimacy to claims that our election was illegal?” Grulkowski asked. “Has our county attorney been approached with the allegations?”

“We are not saying there was anything illegal,” McIntyre replied.

“But you made a statement earlier that there are concerns that the elections are conducted legally and fairly,” Grukowlski responded. “To the county’s knowledge there was nothing illegal that went on.”

“There were credible reports that the ballots for the Fort Shaw Irrigation District were put out improperly leading to a risk of invalidation of the election,” McIntyre said as she begin to list specific allegations. “There are credible reports that eligible voters were turned away between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on the day of the election which puts it at risk for being invalidated. There are credible reports that absentee ballot signatures were not properly checked and that the ballots were not accepted by the software, which could lead people to question the election. There are credible reports that voters in the 19C and 29A and 19D precincts were not sent their absentee ballots.”

“The legal team has been in contact with County Attorney Racki and they are investigating these credible reports to determine whether or not they happened, and whether or not we need to take action to ensure that nothing like that happens in the library levy election,” McIntyre concluded.”

Library Board Member Jessica Crist quickly noted that the board had no interest in litigating an election which had already taken place.

“My concern as a library board member is that all of the precautions and all of the deadlines that are there be followed for this next election,” Crist said. “It’s the next election that we’re really concerned about because that’s the one that effects the library.”

The Montana Secretary of State’s Office's calendar identifies Thursday, May 17 as the date by which all mail-in ballots for the elections on June 6 should have been mailed out. That leaves just 11 days for those ballots to be prepared, approved, placed into envelopes, and sent. Several trustees expressed concern about that short timeline and the month leading into the election.

“We have a month to get ready for this vote,” said Board Member Samantha DeForest. “We don’t have time for glitches or problems. We’re on a tight time crunch and we can’t afford errors.”

While library officials emphatically stated that the board’s attention was focused on the election ahead and not the one passed, the two events are inextricably intertwined. Roughly equal numbers of audience members spoke both in favor and in opposition to the proposal before the Board of Trustees, but much of the conversation focused on problems at last Tuesday’s Great Falls school board election.

City resident Beth Cummings said that many of the problems were due to new election’s software being used by the Montana Secretary of State’s Office, and because no training was offered to the new Elections Office staff.

“I have dealt with this new elections office and watched their process from start to finish and have seen nobody there that’s not first class,” Cummings said. “Are there some issues, glitches? Certainly, just as there would be if anyone of us were in there newly without any process given to us from the prior elections administration. Were the chairs perfectly placed, was all that done? No, but your vote was counted the way it should be done.”

“I am very proud of what I saw there, for what little was given to them from even the Secretary of State that gives zero training. They got the election out, and they had a lot of things that they had to deal with including a brash group of people who were very, very vocal trying to disrupt this process.”

Former Cascade County Commissioner Jane Weber was not as forgiving. Weber, who is a co-founder of a recently formed group called The Election Protection Committee, described a school board election riddled with ballots that were either duplicated or not sent, and voters who were either confused about how to place their vote or who were turned away when the polling station didn’t open as scheduled.

Weber expressed outrage at what she described as the Elections Office’s refusal to provide her group with information regarding all the elections held on May 2.

“It’s really unusual that the transparency in the elections process that’s been advocated by the candidate that now serves in that position (Sandra Merchant) – that she is not willing to provide documentation that is an available record to the public,” Weber said.

She also took exception to reports that staff at the Elections Office had been handing out decals to the public opposing the library’s mill levy request. Those reports have not been confirmed by the Great Falls Tribune.

“We are aware that decals were distributed in the Elections Office during the school board election regarding the library levy, decals that said they were opposed to the levy election,” Weber said. “Many of the same people who are in this room and who worked that election were people who signed a 2022 petition to the County Commissioners saying they don’t believe in mail-in ballots. I find it very unusual to have those people working on mail-in ballots when they don’t believe in the process.”

Perhaps the most dramatic moment was saved for the end of the public comment period when Sandra Merchant stepped to the podium to speak in her own defense.

“When I come into my office politics goes out the door,” Merchant said. “I am not there to be a politician and to decide the elections on my own. I follow the law, and that’s what the citizens need. Every vote that came in was counted.”

“As far as double ballots, that is not anything new. People have complained about it for many years. Elect Montana is a new system. The system has a lot of glitches, and we want to work that out and make it better next time.

“As far as closing the office that’s not new either. That office has been closed and moved to the Expo Park for elections many, many times. It was properly noticed as it was supposed to be in the newspaper and signs were on the door for anyone who missed it.”

“Yes, we are working on the system,” she continued. “The Secretary of State is working on the system. We’ve been working with the county attorneys as well to make sure that everything we’re doing is legal and within the deadlines. We’re going to do the very best that we can for the library election to make sure that … things are going to be done on time and properly.

“After going with no training through this election we have more staff, and we are developing our processes. Things will be much smoother this time. I can’t guarantee that the machine will not have a glitch.”

“We are here to serve the public in that office and not to play politics,” Merchant concluded.

Before voting several library board members attempted to put their actions into perspective.

“My biggest concern right now is the lack of response to questions and how little time we have to do our due diligence as a board,” said board member Anne Bulger. “I am concerned about the 12-day period between now and the time that the ballots go out. We have not seen those ballots or the instructions so I hope that we get those soon and that we can review them and make sure they are accurate and ready to go.”

In the end the vote was unanimous with one abstention. The Great Falls Public Library has put the Elections Board on notice that they will be watching things closely and could request judicial overview of the process if things seem to be going askew.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Library officials may seek judicial oversight of June 6 levy election