Election Day 2024

The county’s counter

Election officials ran tests on the DS450 ballot counting machine, which is not connected to the internet and is sealed during counting. Blue ballot boxes will start coming into election HQ in Virginia City after the polls close at 8 p.m., when counting begins. 

Election judge Kari Reintsma said four years ago, the ballot counting crew worked until 3 a.m. That helped motivate the county to upgrade. Reintsma predicted the counting will wrap up around midnight tonight. 

 Thomas, Schulte and Mefford in for VC government study commission

In initial results, the top three vote-getters for the Virginia City Government Study Commission are Abby Thomas, Darrell Schulte and Donald Mefford. 

Thomas claimed 117 votes, Schulte 83 votes and Mefford 64 votes, narrowly edging out Mark Jacobs who brought in 61 votes. 

Virginia City voters narrowly voted down CI-126 104 votes to 103. It favored CI-127 124 votes to 77 and the town approved CI-128 130 votes to 82. 

Tim Sheehy outpaced Sen. Jon Tester in VC 113 votes to 95. 

Former President Donald Trump carried Virginia City with 129 votes, and Vice President Kamala Harris brought in 84 votes. 

Alder votes down all three ballot initiatives 

The two election reform constitutional initiatives—CI-126 and CI-127—were soundly rejected by voters in Alder, but the vote for CI-128 in Alder was closer. 

CI-128 would create a new section of the Montana Constitution that explicitly establishes a right “to carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion." It failed among Alder voters 116 to 96. 

As for the Madison County Government Study Commission, voters in Virginia City and Alder appear to favor Shauna Laszlo Belding, Rhonda Boyd, Dustin Tetrault, Brian Conklin and Tom “Tater” Broksle, who announced his withdrawal from the race back in October. Of the 12 candidates on the ballot, the top three vote-getters will form the Study Commission. 

Boyd and Tater pull top Sheridan votes for County Gov. Study Commission

Tom “Tater” Broksle was bouncing along a potato field in the cab of his tractor in October when he announced the end of his candidacy. 

Broksle, whose brother’s nickname is “spud,” said he was worried not enough candidates would step up to serve on the local government review study commission set to examine how Madison County operates. But right now no longer feels like the right moment to volunteer his time, explained Broksle, so even though his name will still appear on the ballot, he’s dropping out of the race. 

And in Sheridan, 449 voters backed Tater. Rhonda Boyd pulled the most votes from Sheridan with 498. 

Dustin Tetrault also did well among Sheridan voters with 421.

Icy roads slow vote count

The delivery of ballots from Twin Bridges, Jefferson Island, Harrison and Ennis Town precincts was slowed by black ice and snow on local roads. 

Counting of those ballots began around 11:20 p.m., while poll workers awaited more ballots from Big Sky. Norris Hill and the hill between Ennis and Virginia City is reportedly ice coated. 

A plow was dispatched to spread sand and gravel.  

Ballots from Big Sky arrived in Virginia City at 11:30 p.m.

Boyd, Conklin and Tetrault win seats on Madison County Government Study Commission

GOP candidates dominate in federal and statewide elections

Paula McKenzie started telling volunteers at the Madison County polling place in Virginia City they could head home around 12:30 a.m. on Wed. Nov. 6 as the final ballots of the night were counted and black ice hardened on roads throughout the county. 

In two of the most competitive races on the ballot, Rhonda Boyd of Alder, Brian Conklin of Ennis and Dustin Tetrault of Twin Bridges were elected to serve on the Madison County Government Study Commission. Boyd claimed the most votes, with 1,835.

The Virginia City Government Study Commission will include top vote getter Abby Thomas, plus Darrell Schulte and Donald Mefford. In Ennis, only two candidates for its Study Commission were on the ballot. Brittany Hirsch received 346 votes and Lisa Roberts received 273. 

In the statewide offices—governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor and superintendent of public instruction—Madison County divided down party lines, with Republican candidates claiming roughly three times as many votes as the Democrats on the ballot. 

That pattern extended to the federal races, though the expensive contest between Tim Sheehy and Sen. Jon Tester was a little tighter as some Republican votes flowed to the dirt farmer from Big Sandy. 

In the race for Montana’s western Congressional seat, Ryan Zinke pulled in 4,471 votes in the county, compared to 1,732 for Monica Tranel. At 1 a.m., as the remaining poll workers tidied up the meeting room in VC, Tranel held a narrow lead over Zinke statewide with just 45% of precincts reporting. 

For president, Madison County was resolutely pro-Trump, casting 4,569 votes to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 1,673. 

For Montana Supreme Court Justice, Madison County favored Cory Swanson, and for Supreme Court Justice #3 Dan Wilson who bested Katherine Bidegaray by 215 votes. 

The two election reform constitutional initiatives—CI-126 and CI-127—were rejected by Madison County voters. 
But CI-128 fared better. Madison County narrowly supported the creation of a new section of the Montana Constitution that explicitly establishes a right “to carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion." It won over local voters, edging out those who marked “no” by just 106 votes.