The Cascade County Commission has unanimously appointed a new interim elections administrator after stripping the duties from the county’s clerk and recorder in December.
Beatrice Deveraux Biddick was selected to oversee the county’s elections until a permanent, nonpartisan administrator is hired.
Biddick is currently second-in-command to Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant, who was elected last year.
The commission voted to remove Merchant’s election administration duties after she was accused of mismanaging the county’s voting procedures, including in two lawsuits filed earlier this year.
Before the county hired her, Biddick was part of a group that raised unsubstantiated claims concerning election integrity, calling on officials to count all ballots by hand.
Every statewide office, two U.S. House seats, a U.S. Senate seat and many local offices will be up for election in 2024.
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A Cascade County judge has ordered an election redo for parts of a local irrigation district. The irrigation district admitted it made key mistakes during the election in spring 2023. -
Last month, Cascade County commissioners capped a tumultuous year of election discord when they hired a new nonpartisan election administrator. But according to new reporting from online publication The Electric, Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen emailed commissioners before they made their choice and advised them against hiring two of the four candidates for the job. -
Commissioners unanimously selected former Great Falls Association of Realtors CEO Terry Thompson to manage Cascade County’s elections.
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One of Montana’s largest counties is still without someone to lead its elections one week after its previous administrator lost her duties.
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The Cascade County Commission voted Tuesday to remove election duties from the clerk and recorders office. -
Cascade County commissioners are scheduled to vote on whether to remove election duties from the clerk and recorder’s office. The move to strip the duties from the office comes after a year of lawsuits and allegations of misconduct directed at the current election administrator.
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Cascade County commissioners unanimously certified municipal election results Wednesday, more than a week after a state-imposed deadline.
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Cascade County commissioners Wednesday will attempt for a second time to certify municipal election results from earlier this month.
