County Calls Mail-in Election a Success; Candidates Aren't So Sure

Though it took three hours to count the ballots, Missoula County elections officials pronounced the first mail-in City Council election a success late Tuesday because it produced a voter turnout of 46 percent.

Missoula County Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier said the county decided to hold a mail-in only election to increase voter turnout and solve staff problems at polling stations. It worked on both counts, she added.

“For a City Council election without a mayoral race, the turnout is usually between 12 and 18 percent,” Zeier said. “If the ballot is right in front of them, people are more likely to vote.”

Zeier and an exhausted staff of 60 finished counting the ballots at 11 p.m., three hours after the election closed. Zeier said that the office received about 2,200 ballots in the last 24 hours, along with quite a few walk-up voter registrations, which delayed the official counting.

Though ballots started coming in immediately after they were mailed out three weeks ago, Zeier said that the office is not allowed to count them until the day of the election.

The biggest rush of returned ballots came during the first week after they were mailed out, Zeier said. The second onslaught occurred during the last three days of the election.

For many of the City Council candidates, this fast return rate meant that they had to scramble to reach voters before they mailed in their ballots.

Jason Wiener, who won his Ward 1 race against Justin Armintrout with 64 percent of the vote, said that while the new system increased voter turnout, it made campaigning more difficult.

“I had to go for a broader audience of those people voting who don’t usually vote,” Wiener said. “I had to contact everyone who was going to vote three weeks earlier than I had planned.”

Wiener said that though he originally thought that three weeks between mailing and the election was too long, he was grateful for the cushion that it provided for mistakes.

Justin Armintrout, Wiener’s opponent, said that the three-week period places more emphasis on the day that voters receive their ballots in the mail, rather than the actual day of the election.

“It really took the oomph out of my campaign,” Armintrout said. “Last minute issues come up and voters don’t have time to change their votes.”

Armintrout said that he would favor reducing the time period to two weeks or less in future elections so that candidates have more time to reach voters.

Ward 2 incumbent Don Nicholson, who lost his bid for a third term to Pam Walzer, said that he wasn’t sure if the mail-in system affected his race because the new voters may not have been informed about his position.

“Whether that 30 percent knew what they were voting on is the question,” Nicholson said. “If they took the time to read my stuff and didn’t like it, at least they understood what I was trying to do.”

Ward 4’s Jerry Ballas, who was also defeated in his reelection bid, said that the system directly affected the result of his race because he didn’t have enough time to get his information to voters.

Before his race was officially decided, Ballas said that in hindsight, he would have started campaigning two weeks earlier. He also said that community events for the public to get to know the candidates were scheduled too late.

Other problems with the system included missing signatures on the ballot envelopes, the mailing of 178 ballots to the wrong recipients and ballots returned to the Elections Office marked undeliverable.

Zeier said that every effort was made to track down individuals who hadn’t signed their ballot envelopes before the election and to re-mail ballots to those who had either received the wrong one or hadn’t received one at all.

Of the 51,388 ballots that were mailed out, 4,800 were undeliverable. Zeier said that 2,000 of those belonged to Missoula County residents who hadn’t updated their information, as opposed to city residents.

In the September primary election, about 11,000 of 42,000 ballots were undeliverable. The Elections Office inferred that most of these ballots belonged to college students with outdated voter information.

“I think it went a lot better with the undeliverable ballots this time around,” Zeier said.

Zeier said that she also received a few complaints from people who feared that their signatures on the outside of ballot envelopes could lead to identity theft. Overall, she said, complaints about the new system were minimal.

- By LAUREN RUSSELL

Two Incumbents, School Bond Defeated; Voter Participation Well Above Average

Heavier than usual voter turnout Tuesday brought four new faces to the Missoula City Council. Two incumbent aldermen, Jerry Ballas and Don Nicholson, were unseated and a $10 million school bond was denied -- the first defeat for local school financing in more than a decade.

Newcomers to the council are Jason Wiener in Ward 1, Pam Walzer in Ward, Lyn Hellegaard in Ward 4, and Renee Mitchell in Ward 5.

Jenda Hemphill, chairwoman of the Missoula County Public Schools board, said school financing may have been defeated because, "It was easier for people to voice their opinion this year."

Defeated City Councilman Jerry Ballas speculated that the mail-in format effectively shortened the amount of time candidates has to campaign.

In all, 23,660 votes were counted, a turnout of 46 percent, according to Missoula County Deputy Clerk and Recorder Debbe Merseal. That's up from an average turnout for non-mayoral elections of 32 percent over the last 15 years, she said. She said about 4,900 ballots were turned in on Election Day, which kept a staff of about 60 people busy certifying and counting.

"It takes a little longer to process mail-in ballots," Merseal said.

Ballots accepted Tuesday included those received in the mail and those dropped off at the Missoula County Courthouse or five polling places around town. About 2,500 ballots were not certified until after the 8 p.m. deadline, Clerk and Recorder Vickie Zeier said.

-By CHRIS D'ANGELO and AMANDA EGGERT

Rye Blocks Harrison's Comeback in Ward 3

Door-to-door campaigning helped incumbent Stacy Rye defeat former Councilman Doug Harrison Tuesday in a race for the University area's Ward 3 seat on Missoula's City Council.

“I went and knocked on a lot of doors,” said Rye, who has served on the council for the past four years. “It’s all about shoe leather.”

Rye received 1,504 votes, or about 52 percent of the ward’s total. Harrison, who served for 12 years on the council through the 1980s and 1990s, garnered 1,089 votes.

Harrison had misgivings about his campaign, including how he connected with voters.

“I felt like we had articulated issues that needed to be addressed,” Harrison said. “I don’t think we did a good enough job of getting the message (of those issues) across.”

Rye said traffic was one of the defining issues in the election. She said she didn’t support raising the speed limits on Fifth and Sixth Streets, unlike Harrison.

“He has said that his idea of quality of life is not sitting in traffic,” she said. “I don’t think you need to have cars moving faster.”

For the next term though, she said, her priority will be revamping the city's zoning regulations. Starting six months ago, the council began rewriting those rules, a process that could take up to three years.

“We have zoning regulations that have been on the books since 1972,” she said. “Ithas a lot to do with growth -- a lot, a lot, a lot.”

Rye said Ward 3 has one of the highest percentages of student voters and has historically voted for the Democratic candidate. The Missoula County Democratic Central Committee endorsed the 38-year-old Rye. Harrison ran as a nonpartisan candidate.

Rye said she appealed to student voters because she was able to relate to them as renters. “I was a student before I was a homeowner,” Rye said. “I can remember the days of bad landlords.”

Rye said the direction the council might take in the next four years depends on the council’s makeup and its staff. She repeatedly said she was more concerned with other City Council race results, especially Ward 4 incumbent Jerry Ballas’ loss. Ballas was known as swing vote on the council.

Harrision, who spent part of the campaign in the hospital, dealing with a life-threatening ulcer, said he might not run again.

“Part of this election, I was down and out because of my health,” he said.

About 31 percent of active voters in Ward 3 participated in the election.

“Ward 3 is extremely plugged in,” Rye said.

- By MARK PAGE, BEN PREZ, ZACH WARREN, MELISSA WEAVER AND ASHLEY ZUELKE

Mitchell Strong arms Prescott in Ward 5

Renee Mitchell, a Missoula Youth Home manager, out-muscled former body builder Christine Prescott Tuesday to become the new City Council member for Ward 5.

Mitchell won with 1,220 votes to Prescott's 1,026.

She said she won because she holds the same values as the people in her ward, unlike her opponent.

"I'm a conservative in a fairly conservative district," said Mitchell, who campaigned as a staunch nonpartisan. She said she took clear stances on key issues, which earned her votes.
During her campaign, Prescott said she would be a positive voice for Missoula and called Mitchell a " 'No' person" who already has her mind made up.

Prescott was not available for comment after election results were in.

The issue of infill brought out the differences between the two candidates.

"I think we have to explore everything," Prescott said during the campaign. "I think there's a way to do it responsibly and do it in a way that fits with the neighborhood."

But Mitchell's more assertive stance on infill may have won her key votes.

"I think we should follow the zoning, and I don¹t think we should compromise the integrity of existing neighborhoods," she said. "Also, what's affordable isn't always acceptable."

Mitchell said her neighbors asked her to run for the City Council seat left open by longtime Councilman Jack Reidy. She said that her many years living in Missoula gave her ties that turned into votes.

- By KELSEY BERNIUS, ALEXANDER TENENBAUM, PETER CONTE and LINA MILLER

Ward 4's Ballas unseated by Newcomer Hellegard

Missoula City Councilman Jerry Ballas's support for a controversial aquatics project helped sink his re-election bid, a victorious Ward 4 challenger Lyn Hellegaard said Tuesday night.

Hellegaard, a transportation-issues executive, blocked Ballas's bid for a third term, winning 53 percent of the votes to his 45 percent.

While Ballas was one of the strongest voices supporting the Missoula Aquatics Project, Hellegaard said she feels the project has distanced the community from city government and that it will be detrimental to future projects.

Throughout the campaign, Hellegaard, who is executive director of the Missoula Ravalli Transportation Management Association, voiced her concern about the lack of collective vision within the City Council.

She said the process of campaigning and having an election has helped to establish city priorities.
"I would hope to say that through this process we've gotten a collective vision, we've gotten our fiscal priorities straight and we've gotten good paying jobs," she said.

Ballas blamed his loss on a shorter campaign season and mail-in ballots.

"Those community meetings you count on, but a lot of those were set up late," Ballas said. "With mail in ballots, there's really not enough time to get information out to everyone. In hindsight, you'd have to start two weeks earlier."

Ballas is the council's vice president and chairman of its Conservation Committee. He also sits on the Finance, Plat, Annexation and Zoning Committee.

- By WHITNEY BERMES, ADAM BOEHLER, JEFF OSTEEN and RYAN THOMPSON

Childers Edges Schneller in Ward 6

Election to a third term on Missoula's City Council was thin as a dime for Missoula"s former city treasurer Tuesday.

Ward 6 Councilman Ed Childers defeated first-time challenger Lewis Schneller by 40 votes, 892 to 852.

Childers said he won the election because he has been doing a good job for the people of Missoula. Childers, who also serves as City Council president, said he intends to run for that leadership spot again.

Schneller said he was disappointed not to be able to bring change to the council, but wasn't discouraged by his defeat.

"The balance of power still hasn't changed," he said. "I don't think there'll be any healing. The far left still calls the shots."

He called his first bid for council a learning process. "I don't think I'm through with this," he added.

The two candidates split over several issues including infill, planned neighborhood clusters and the size of the city budget.

Currently, Ward 6 permits rezoning that allows density of more than 16 units per acre with caveats, Childers said. He said he would like to continue to make high density available to people who desire to build small homes.

Schneller said he is against high density and planned neighborhood clusters because he was once evicted from his trailer so that a developer could build a PNC on his lot. The developer had no "sense of empathy" for those who lived in the trailer park, he said.

Both candidates said the mail-in balloting was a success and contributed to higher voter turnout.
Childers, however, said watching the votes come in wasn't as much fun as watching a horserace.

"We've never come down here for this before and now I see why," Childers said when he got to the courthouse where the ballots were being counted. "This is the most boring party ever."

- By LUCAS HAMILTON, KALIE DRUCKENMILLER, CONRAD WENDLAND and MORGAN FREDERICK

High School Bond Fails in Close Race

Voters shot down plans for a major security and maintenance overhaul of Missoula's four high schools Tuesday when they voted 48 to 51 percent against a $10 million school bond.

The High School Building Reserve, which appeared on the election ballot of every eligible voter in the Missoula County Public School District, failed by a vote of 11,967 to 11,292.

MCPS School Board Chairwoman Jenda Hemphill said the defeat came as a surprise.

“I can’t remember the last time a school money issue didn’t pass; it’s probably been 12 years,” Hemphill said. “It’s shocking.”

Hemphill also said that new mail-in voting might have had a bearing on outcome. She commended the increased voter turnout, but said more votes may also mean more diversity of views.

“It was easier for people to voice their opinion this year,” Hemphill said.

As for the proposed projects at Hellgate, Big Sky, Sentinel and Seeley-Swan high schools, Hemphill said they wouldn’t be going forward any time soon.

"We need to look for another way of funding these projects,” Hemphill said.

When asked why she thought the levy had failed, Hemphill said: “I hope we weren’t taking the community for granted. We’ve always been so lucky with community support. Maybe we as a district need to do a better job.”

Big Sky, Hellgate, Sentinel and Seeley-Swan would have used the $10 million bond to revamp the interior and exterior of each school, as well as upgrade the school¹s safety equipment.

Of the $10 million bond, $8 million would have gone into maintenance and renovations of high school facilities, while $1.5 million would have been used in making each high school safer.

To cover the cost of the bond, residents with a taxable home value of $200,000 would have paid an average of $24.42 per year for the next five years.

However, a decline in tax rates due to a lower assessment would average the overall increase in taxes by $3.42.

According to the Missoula County Public Schools, the bond money would have paid to install interior and exterior security cameras and with a key-card system to improve students' safety.

Other projects would have included upgrading the heating and ventilation systems, replacing science and woodworking equipment, upgrading parking facilities, theater, band and orchestra equipment, and replacing lighting.

-By KRISTIN GREGORY and JOE SLEMBERGER