Great Falls Public Schools wants elections to be handled by county commission’s office

Great Falls Public Schools is asking election duties be transferred to county commissioners, citing a “complete lack of cooperation” with the current elections office under new Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant.

The letter describes a “breakdown in communication” between the Merchant and the district during their trustee election earlier this year, as well as more than $17,000 in additional costs for both legal costs and allowing in-person voting.

The letter was discussed during Monday night’s school board meeting; Cascade County Commissioners said in response they would take it under advisement. Community members expressed both support and dissent for the letter, and one board member said she wished the decision to send the letter had been brought before the board for a vote.

Merchant did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

The letter from the school district, signed by Superintendent Tom Moore, Board Chairman Gordon Johnson and Director of Business Operations Brian Patrick, details how the rejection of the proposal for an all mail-in ballot impacted the school district’s finances since it bears the cost of the election.

“This denial not only disregarded the district’s financial obligations, but also did not follow the request of the trustees who support a mail ballot election because it is cost efficient and allows the most voters the opportunity to receive a ballot and vote in the election,” the letter said.

The school board election held in May was the first election Merchant ran as Cascade County clerk and recorder. She narrowly defeated 16-year incumbent Rina Moore for the position in November. Merchant is also known as an election denier, holding audience most recently with famed election conspiracist Douglas Frank.

The May election was also the first since the closure of the ballot sorting company, Innovative Postal Services, as well as the resignation of staff that were familiar with the process.

Leading up to the May election, voters said their mailed ballots did not fit in return envelopes and some voters received duplicates, while others never received their ballot in the mail.

The letter said concerns about the organization of Merchant’s office were also raised after ballots were absent from the polling site “well after the polls had opened.”

“Moreover, the alleged failure to send absentee ballots to all eligible voters undermined the integrity of the election and disenfranchised a portion of the electorate,” the letter read.

The letter said the unresponsiveness from the elections office continued after the district requested information about the election to clarify board questions as they certified the election results.

“Despite repeated inquiries, we have yet to receive any of this requested information other than the final bill which was received well after the election,” the letter said.

Some Great Falls residents spoke in opposition of the district’s decision to send the letter during Monday night’s school board meeting.

“This letter, in my opinion, is inappropriate for a school district to send,” said Jeni Dodd. “It appears to me to be an attempt to subvert an election, and remove elections duties from a clerk and recorder whose duties, when elected, included election administration.”

Dodd also mentioned that the school district has the option to run their own elections.

Jasmine Taylor, a local activist who ran as a Democrat for the statehouse in 2020, said the letter was a recommendation that commissioners could take into consideration that would take the partisanship out of election administration.

Later in the meeting, Chairman Johnson read the response from commissioners, which was provided to the Daily Montanan. In their response, commissioners said that decision would require thorough evaluation, at a time that hasn’t been determined yet, and therefore they can’t offer an opinion now. They also mentioned that the district has the option to withdraw their contract with the county for election administration for their election next May.

If the county commissioners were to pursue absorbing elections into their office, the process would either be through a resolution or an ordinance. An ordinance would require two public meetings and 30 days before it would go into effect, allowing for public input in the process, whereas a resolution would not.

Former commissioner Jane Weber, who also helps run the Election Protection Committee, said the county would likely choose to do an ordinance if it went down this path because it is more open to the public.

School board member Paige Turoski said during the meeting, and later told the Daily Montanan, she would have liked for their letter to the commission to have been an agenda item that would have come before the commission for a vote. She also said that she had been excluded from email communication on the matter and had been informed of the letter by community members, something Superintendent Moore publicly apologized for and said was an accident.

Turoski told the Daily Montanan the board previously held a special meeting before sending a letter to Merchant in April surrounding the request for mail-in ballots, and that was a board decision.

“And this is a much weightier request of our county commissioners and I felt like it just should have been brought before the board in the matter of public interest,” she said.

Turoski said that although there were issues with the trustee election, the board was able to certify the results, and the library mill levy election went smoothly.

“And then we have another election to watch in November before our election even happens in May,” she said. “So there’s plenty of time for kind of the kinks to get ironed out, so to speak.”

Board Vice-Chair Kim Skornogoski told the Daily Montanan this issue brought politics into school board meetings.

She said that fundamental questions were left unanswered by the elections office for months following the election about process, results and cost.

“The people that elect us expect us to be transparent and accountable and responsible with the school dollars,” she said. “We’ll just hope that this opens the door to better communication and a better process next year.”

This story was initially published by the Daily Montanan, a nonprofit newsroom part of the States News organization, covering state issues. Read more at dailymontanan.com.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Great Falls schools wants elections to be handled by county office