Flathead County Election Department prepares for accurate election

Less than a week from Election Day, Flathead County election officials feel confident in their ability to oversee the federal election on Nov. 5.  

“Based on the narrative that’s going on, not only locally but nationally, security is important [this election],” said Debbie Pierson, the Flathead County election administrator.  

Integrity in the United States election system has been thrown into question this campaign cycle, specifically after former President Donald Trump’s stolen election claims from 2020. Just this week, ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington were set on fire. Pierson stated that the mishaps occurred at unmanned ballot boxes, which Flathead County does not utilize.  

In fact, the only place open to vote early is the Election Department’s office in Kalispell at 290 B North Main Street. Other polling locations will be open on Nov. 5 only from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Election officials are preparing for an accurate election by testing voting tabulation machines and preparing to man polling locations while handling an influx of early voters.  

Using tabulators, local election results could come in as early as 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday. After the election, the office is audited by the state to confirm the results. 

“The whole idea about that, the intention as to why that was written into law, is to validate the results of the tabulators,” Pierson said. “... And before that, there’s quite an intensive testing process that goes into verifying our machines prior to Election Day tabulation.” 

Before beginning an official count of ballots, the Election Department goes through multiple rounds of verification to confirm machines are counting correctly. Officials also check and validate signatures by hand, Pierson said, by comparing signatures on the ballot envelope to the voter registration card.  

In Flathead County, absentee and early ballots will be counted beginning Monday. Counting ends at 5 p.m. and resumes Tuesday night. As of now, the county is tracking more early voters than seen in the past, straining the department. 

“We’ve seen a huge uptick of people, or campaigns, encouraging people to come in and vote early. So, we’re seeing a lot of poll-place voters coming in and getting ballots to vote early,” said Election Supervisor Christina Glatz. “That is different from what the primary was like. It makes me wonder what it will be like at the polls on Election Day.” 

Statewide nearly 285,000 absentee ballots were returned a week out from Election Day.  

As of Wednesday, 53,642 ballots had been sent out in Flathead County. Of those, 30,253 were already returned, according to the Secretary of State’s office.  

Come Election Day, multiple polling locations will be open across the county. Since legislative district boundaries were changed this year, a voter’s residential address may be in a different precinct. The state Legislature passed a bill that limits the number of registered voters in each precinct, thus Flathead County gained precincts that now total 56.  

The easiest way to check where to vote, according to Pierson, is to go to prodvoterportal.mt.gov/WhereToVote.aspx.  

Voting is no longer available at Swan River School, Columbia Falls High School or the Bigfork library. There will be two drive-through voting locations on Tuesday at the Flathead County Fairgrounds and at the county Election Department.  

“If anybody is not sure about where to vote or how to vote, they should contact our office,” Pierson said.  

Montana allows voters to register up to and on Election Day. Voters can register up until noon on Monday and then from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. 

Those who are in line when polls close at 8 p.m. are permitted to vote.  

Voters are prohibited from wearing or displaying any campaign material or electioneering within 100 feet of any polling location.  

The Flathead County Election Department can be reached at 758-5535 and also has information on voting on its website at flathead.mt.gov/department-directory/election 

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.