Election manager says accuracy is paramount

As the election manager for Flathead County, Monica Eisenzimer has seen some long days and nights.

During the particularly busy 2012 general election, she went to work in the morning on Election Day, worked through the day and night and didn’t get home until 4 p.m. the next afternoon.

“Elections are not for weak people,” Eisenzimer said with a smile. “It’s a lot of stress and anxiety.”

Now Eisenzimer and her crew at the county Election Department are in the throes of preparing for Montana’s special election on May 25 to replace former U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish, who was appointed Secretary of the Interior.

Flathead County’s absentee voter numbers keep growing, she noted. About 47 percent of the county’s active voters — close to 27,000 — currently are registered to receive absentee ballots, with more requests coming in daily. During the November 2016 general election more than 60 percent of the ballots in Flathead County were cast by absentee voters.

“I don’t think this [special election] will be bigger than a primary,” she predicted.

But the same amount of preparation goes into each election, no matter how many turn out at the polls or vote by absentee ballot.

“It’s just like a November election,” she said.

There are poll runners and election judges to secure. All totaled, including members of the Sheriff’s Posse and an 18-member absentee ballot board, there are more than 200 people — all who will be on the county payroll for their participation — to line up for the May 25 election.

People often ask Eisenzimer what she and her staff do during the rest of the year between elections. There’s no shortage of details to attend to, she assured.

“We register people constantly,” she said.

Last week the Election Department mailed absentee ballots for the upcoming fire district, school and special district elections. Absentee ballots for the U.S. House seat election will be mailed out May 1. The filing for city elections opened last week. Stacks of ballots on tables in the department indicate a measurable workload.

Through it all, Eisenzimer exudes a calm and confident presence that serves her well in her supervisory position.

When the law changed a few years ago to allow late voter registration up until the time the polls close on Election Day, it became a bigger challenge to process ballots in a timely manner. Add to that the pressure of the news media and others wanting to know election results as soon as possible, and it can make for a stressful evening.

But Eisenzimer takes the pressure in stride. The customer-service side of her yearns to get the results published posthaste, but she realized early on that getting it right had to come before getting it fast.

“Our resolve to be accurate overpowers the need to be fast,” she stressed.

Eisenzimer, 53, exhibited leadership ability early on in life. During high school in Columbia Falls, she gravitated toward being president or secretary of the clubs and organizations with which she was involved. Between her sophomore and junior years she participated in the American Field Service’s People to People program and toured Europe for six weeks. The program aimed to build peace through friendship.

“It was definitely a life-changing experience,” she recalled. “It opened your eyes to the world.”

Eisenzimer got involved in the exchange program largely because of her German heritage. She studied German in high school.

After graduating from Columbia Falls High School in 1981, she headed to the University of Montana and took pre-law classes. Not wanting the sizable student debt load a law degree would require, Eisenzimer switched gears and got her barber’s license from the Big Sky College of Barber Styling in Missoula.

She went to work as a barber, and it wasn’t long before she stepped up to serve on the state barber board for six years.

Eisen-zimer was looking for a new challenge when Stream International came to Kalispell. She went to work for Stream in 2000 and was there three years when then-Clerk and Recorder Paula Robinson suggested Eisenzimer apply for a county position.

She joined the Clerk and Recorder staff in 2003, then worked as clerk to the county commissioners for a year before settling into election work in 2005. Eisenzimer splits her time at the Election Department with her duties as recording manager for the county. The county now does e-recording and processes a daily average of 50 documents, such as titles.

Over the years she’s seen a lot of changes in elections, including the conversion from punch cards to paper ballots. A statewide database was developed and technology keeps improving. After several years of being stationed at the fairgrounds for several months of the year, the Election Department late last year moved into new quarters in the county’s South Campus Building. Having everything all in one place all the time is better not only for the staff but also the public, she added.

Eisenzimer has been divorced for 25 years, and raised two children as a single mother. Her son Marcus Applegate, 26, is establishing his life here after five years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including active duty in Afghanistan. Daughter Ashley Applegate, 29, manages a Verizon store in Missoula.

“I always wanted my kids to be first,” she said.

In a way, Eisenzimer said, every election is like having a child.

“Once it’s created it never goes away,” she said. “Even though it feels like you never want to do that again, afterwards you say, ‘yeah, I can do it again.’”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.