Councilor joins lawsuit over Kalispell election redo

A Kalispell city councilor will be allowed to participate in a case that seeks to nullify the November municipal election and hold it again.

Flathead County District Court Judge Robert Allison has granted Ryan Hunter’s motion to intervene in the matter. Following a clerical error in the Nov. 7 election, the county election administrator — through a court petition filed early this month — is seeking to nullify the election and hold a redo for the four Council wards on the ballot. 

Allison as of Thursday had not ruled on whether a new election will be held. 

Hunter, in court documents, says that the annulment and initiation of a new election would cause him and the public “considerable harm” and could not have had a meaningful impact on the election outcome for Ward 3, which he was reelected to serve. 

The error caused some ballots to be distributed incorrectly during the election process. The county says 176 voters voted on an incorrect ballot, but that 1,400 eligible voters were affected by the error. 

Flathead County Clerk and Recorder Debbie Pierson is asking the court to allow her department to conduct a new election and pay for the election. 

In an affidavit to the court, Hunter points out that errors in Wards 1 and 2 could have affected the outcome of those elections 

But in his ward and Ward 4, where incumbent Sid Daoud ran unopposed, the mistake would not have affected the outcome. Hunter argues that the number of impacted votes at 64 would not be enough to change the race when he won by 372 votes more than his opponent.

In campaigning, Hunter says he raised and spent about $4,000, spent nearly 98 hours knocking on over a thousand doors and relied on many hours of volunteer help. 

“If a new election were held, I will not be sitting on the couch waiting for the outcome,” he said. “I will have to raise and spend more money, spend hours knocking on doors once again (likely this time in more inclement weather) and organize more volunteer help.” 

In addition, he points out that holding a new election for Wards 3 and 4 would cost taxpayers money that would be hard to justify if the mistake would not have impacted the outcome of either election. 

In Ward 1, a total of 80 votes separated the two candidates on the ballot. Of the votes cast, a total of 124 ballots were affected by the county error. In Ward 2, a total of 109 votes separated the two candidates and a total of 155 ballots were impacted. 

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. 

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