Unofficial June 5 primary voting results

ENNIS – At about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, Elaine Forsberg of Ennis dropped her cast ballot into one of the two blue boxes on the table at the town hall. Two unused ballots slid into the other blue box. Then Forsberg received her “I voted” sticker, which she wore proudly.

“I’ve been living in Montana for the last 15 years and I love it,” she said, voting and all, on her way out.

Meanwhile, election officials Beth Classen, Sandi Pfall, Dan Northway, Mary Sedwick and Shirley Storey – “the boss,” her co-workers called her – remained behind the tables, helping voters with the mechanics of maintaining their most fundamental right as Americans.

Storey said the voter turnout was a little on the light side – “below average,” she said – because people tend to ignore primaries, but focus instead on November’s general elections, especially during presidential years.

Still, at 4 p.m. that afternoon, the election crew in Ennis had gathered the votes cast by 331 people who’d come through the town hall’s doors. 

Unfortunately, truly official primary election night results won’t be known until June 19. The voting has to be audited (June 13) by state officials, then canvassed (June 19) by county election officials, according to Madison County Clerk-Recorder-Election Administrator Kathleen Mumme.

However, preliminary vote records were available from the Montana Department of State’s website, vote counts submitted by county election officials across the state.

As of Wednesday morning, with all 669 voting precincts fully reported, statewide voter turnout showed 281,412 of 679,231 registered voters had actually voted, a 41 percent turnout.

One vote of especial interest in Madison County: Voters appear to have approved the continuing mill levy to support the county nursing homes 1,767 for, 576 against.

In other business, voters did as follows:

Local races 

Nursing home mill levy

Continuing mill levy for the Madison County nursing homes – 2,343 total votes

• For – 1,767, 75 percent

• Against – 576, 25 percent

State Representative 

District 71

Democrat

• Jay A. Frederick – 684 votes, 100 percent

Republican

• Ray L. Shaw – 1,383 votes, 100 percent

Statewide races 

Clerk of the Supreme Court

Democrat – 176 total votes

• Rex Renk – 665 votes, 100 percent

Republican – 1,334 total votes

• Bowen Greenwood – 1,334, 100 percent

Supreme Court Justice No. 4

• Beth Baker (non-partisan) – 2,016 votes, 100 percent 

Supreme Court Justice No. 2

• Ingrid Gustafson (non-partisan) – 2,017 Total Votes, 100 Percent

District Court Judge

District No. 5, Dept. No.  1

Luke Michael Berger (non-partisan) – 2,067 votes, 100 percent

Congressional races

U.S. Senate

Democrat – 775 total votes

• John Tester, 775 votes (uncontested)

Republicans – 1,609 total votes

• Troy Downing – 294 votes (18 percent) 

• Russ Fagg – 375 votes (23 percent)

• Albert Olszewski – 141 votes (9 percent)

• Matt Rosendale – 799 (50 percent)

Green Party – 5 votes

• Timothy Adams – 7 votes (56 percent)

• Steve Kelly – 10 votes (39 percent)

U.S. Representative

Democrats – 752 total votes

• John Heenan - 136 votes, 18 percent

• Grant Kier - 233 votes, 31 percent

• John Meyer - 16 votes, 2 percent

• Lynda Moss - 32 votes, 4 percent

• Jared Pettinato - 16 votes, 2 percent

• Kathleen Williams -319 votes, 42 percent

Republican 400 total votes

• Greg Gianforte – 1,470 votes, 98 percent

Green Party – 4 total votes

• Doug Campbell – 14 votes, 82 percent