Cascade County’s new commission chair said he’s concerned that a top election official position remains unfilled as election season approaches.
Commission chair Jim Larson said the office had received at least four applications for the election administrator job as of Tuesday and he hopes they’ll start reviewing them next week.
“Well, I wouldn’t be worried if we were done last week,” Larson said. “But, yeah, we’re concerned here with getting this done.”
The administrator position is in charge of the upcoming school board election in Great Falls — that’s scheduled for early May. A county employee is filling the role pending a permanent hire.
Cascade County commissioners in December voted to remove management duties from the clerk and recorder after a string of alleged errors in previous elections. Commissioners also agreed in that unanimous vote to abstain from discussing election issues during years in which their seat is on the ballot.
That prompted an election monitoring group to submit a letter this week asking commissioner Rae Grulkowski to withdraw from election decisions to comply with the rule.
Commissioner Larson said the county attorney is reviewing that letter. He added the intent of the policy was to avoid the appearance of “impropriety” by commissioners after the elections department was moved into their office last year.
Commissioner Grulkowski did not respond to a request for comment.
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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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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. -
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 finalized a vote Tuesday to change the way they select their chairperson. They faced a wave of opposition. -
Cascade County commissioners Wednesday will attempt for a second time to certify municipal election results from earlier this month.
