County seeks new election for Kalispell Council races

The Flathead County election administrator through a court petition is seeking a redo for the Kalispell municipal election.

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office on Friday filed a petition in Flathead District Court on behalf Election Administrator Debbie Pierson seeking to annul the Nov. 7 election. The petition also requests permission to conduct a new election for the four Council wards.

“Integrity throughout every step of the election process is paramount,” Pierson said in a release. “To this degree, I feel it is essential that the election is redone, and ballots are issued according to current ward boundaries. It is vitally important that the public is confident that fair, accurate, and transparent elections are being conducted in Flathead County.” 

A clerical error caused some ballots not to be distributed correctly during the election process. The county says there were about 1,400 eligible voters affected by the error. Of that total, there were 176 who voted on an incorrect ballot. 

However, it is impossible to determine the exact effect, the petition says, because after being alerted to the error the Kalispell city manager requested a statement from the election administrator that was read at the Nov. 6 City Council meeting the day prior to the election.

“Such information could possibly have influenced a person’s decision on whether or not to vote,” the petition says. 

Changes in the ward boundaries and newly annexed properties updated by Kalispell City Council in 2021 were not entered into the system used by the Election Department and thus not reflected in the ballots issued to voters. The error came to light days before the election. 

If approved, a future election date would be determined and ballots would be distributed according to the correct district ward boundaries.

The county covers the cost of the new election. County officials said previously that a minimum of 60 days would be needed to hold the second election. 

State law says that a candidate or a voter may challenge an election, and does not provide an avenue for an election administrator to annul an election. 

“However, because of the manifest error in the election process for the City of Kalispell, the Election Administrator feels it is her duty to attempt to annul this election and conduct a new one,” the petition states. 

Also on the ballot Municipal Judge Alison Howard, who was running unopposed, was reelected. As that race is citywide, the petition does not seek to include it in a new election. 

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or hdesch@dailyinterlake.com.