In Butte, Montana, a county recently conducted a recount of its primary ballots, prompted by concerns that approximately 1,000 ballots may have been counted twice. Despite the recount revealing an overcount of 1,143 ballots out of the 10,934 cast, the outcome of the nonpartisan races for a state judgeship and the city-county chief executive remained unchanged, with the same candidates advancing to the general election.
The decision to recount the ballots was made following a public inquiry regarding the number of votes tallied during the June 4 primary election. Linda Sajor-Joyce, the county’s election chief, explained that the discrepancy likely occurred when ballots were inadvertently placed in the wrong location after being tabulated, resulting in their double counting. Sajor-Joyce acknowledged a similar issue had occurred in the past.
During a post-election audit, Sajor-Joyce noticed potential irregularities in the voting numbers but initially deemed them acceptable. She expressed difficulty in allocating time to thoroughly investigate the matter due to the additional workload of verifying signatures for three constitutional initiatives, which was prolonged by a legal dispute over counting the signatures of inactive voters.
In response to the incident, Republican Jason Ellsworth, the president of the Montana Senate, announced the formation of a select committee to probe the matter further. The committee’s objective is to examine the circumstances surrounding the double counting of ballots and assess whether legislative changes are necessary to prevent similar errors from happening in the future.
