Ulbricht, Allison leading races for district court judge seats

Heidi Ulbricht and Robert Allison were leading in Tuesday’s nonpartisan elections for two judge openings in the Flathead District Court.

Ulbricht, who has served as Kalispell Municipal Court judge for the last 18 years, held a wide lead over Kalispell attorney Vanessa Ceravolo for the Department 3 district judge seat.

About 24,000 absentee ballots remained to be counted as of early this morning.

The Department 3 district judge seat is being vacated by Judge Stewart Stadler, who chose to not run for re-election after 12 years in office.

Ulbricht was leading with a 63 to 37 percent margin over Ceravolo, according to early unofficial results from the Flathead County Election Department.

Each candidate would be only the second woman to serve as a district judge in Flathead County, with departing District Judge Katherine Curtis the first.

Because district judge elections are nonpartisan and the top two vote recipients automatically progress from the primary, Ulbricht and Ceravolo both advanced from the primary as the only candidates for the position. In the primary, Ulbricht captured 67 percent of the vote compared to Ceravolo’s 33 percent.

Allison, a private attorney in Kalispell and fourth-generation Flathead County resident, held a much tighter lead over Daniel R. Wilson in the election for the Department 2 district judge seat held by Curtis. Curtis chose not to run for re-election after 16 years in office.

Allison was leading Wilson by a margin of 53 to 47 percent.

During the campaign, Ulbricht touted her extensive municipal court experience and said that gave her an ability to handle a full Flathead District Court docket from day one. She said if elected she would launch a DUI/drug court similar to one she had started in municipal court.

Ulbricht previously ran for district court judge and lost to Judge David Ortley, when a fourth judge seat was added to the district court in 2010.

Ceravolo touted her 20 years of experience in civil and family law, saying those areas make up nearly 90 percent of the cases in district court.

Allison said his decades of experience practicing law in the Flathead, and his experience handling virtually every kind of case that comes before the district court, made him the most qualified candidate for the job.

Wilson is a Flathead County justice of the peace and a former deputy county attorney in Flathead, Cascade and Blaine counties.

Incumbent District Judge Ted Lympus was unopposed in both the primary and general elections. He has served in the position since being elected in 1992, and before that served 14 years as Flathead County Attorney. He was retained by the voters with an 80 percent majority.