Incumbents re-elected to Flathead Electric Co-op board

Three incumbents have been re-elected to the Flathead Electric Co-op Board of Trustees.

District 2 incumbent Emery Smith held his seat by receiving 3,455 votes against challenger Todd Wallace, who received 2,378. District 2 includes the Lower Valley, Rollins, Cooke City and Elk Basin.

District 3 incumbent Jay Downen and District 5 incumbent Alan Ruby ran unopposed and received 5,546 votes and 5,577 votes, respectively. District 3 includes Whitefish, Big Mountain and Olney, while District 5 includes Kalispell and north of U.S. 2.

Three seats on the board were up for election this year. A total of 6,065 ballots were received in the election. Wendy Ostrom Price, public relations officer at the Co-op, said the turnout for the mail-ballot election was about average.

Candidates had to be members of the Co-op and live in the district they sought election to represent. Trustees serve three years.

The cooperative is a business owned and governed by its members. The nine member Board of Trustees, elected by cooperative members to represent each of nine service districts, governs Flathead Electric.

Flathead Electric is the second largest electric utility in Montana. It serves more than 50,000 members and maintains 4,500 miles of overhead and underground power lines in the Flathead Valley and Libby, along with several hundred members along the Montana-Wyoming border.

For more information, visit www.flatheadelectric.com.