Article published Oct 30, 2007

City vote earning increased attention

By RICHARD ECKE

Tribune Staff Writer

Interest is up in the Great Falls city election, set for Nov. 6, two county election officials said Monday.

Based upon a large number of absentee ballots passed out and mailed so far, Debbie Mart and her boss, Clerk and Recorder Rina Fontana Moore, predicted turnout next Tuesday will be higher than two years ago.

"I don't know how much higher," Mart said Monday.

The Cascade County Elections office expects to hand out or mail out its 5,000th absentee ballot any hour now. The total given out by mid-afternoon Monday was 4,909 ballots, said Mart, Cascade County Elections Office supervisor.

That contrasts with only 816 absentee ballots distributed during the 2005 general city election.

Moore said she thinks this year's overall turnout will beat the figure from two years ago, based upon absentee ballot requests. Mart agreed.

Some 9,685 voters cast ballots in the 2005 election, a contest in which incumbent City Commissioners Bill Beecher and John Rosenbaum were re-elected, and challenger Dona Stebbins defeated incumbent Mayor Randy Gray in a close race.

Two years ago, the general election turnout was 27.3 percent.

Two city commissioners and the mayor will be chosen in Tuesday's general election.

If voter turnout is higher this year, that means more than 10,000 votes will be cast. The number of registered voters Monday was 37, 319 people.

Issues in this year's city election include a proposed coal-fired power plant near Great Falls, a city takeover of the animal shelter, public safety and economic development. How many minutes the public can talk at City Commission meetings also has been debated.

Mart said requests for absentee ballots were "really steady all day long" Monday. People were coming in to get ballots in person, and also requesting ballots to be mailed to them.

For people who want ballots mailed to them, Mart recommends giving her office a written request by Wednesday, to make sure the voter will have time to send the ballot back. But she said her office will honor requests for mailed ballots until Monday noon. That's also the deadline for picking up an absentee ballot in person.

County election workers will pack up the office Monday afternoon and move it to Montana ExpoPark, which for the first time in recent memory will serve as a single polling place for Great Falls residents.

Moore noted absentee voters can turn in their ballots at the County Elections Office, 325 2nd Ave. N., through 8 p.m. Tuesday, or on Election Day at the Exhibition Hall at Montana ExpoPark.

Reaction to one polling place in the city has been mixed among absentee voters, Mart said.

"Some are very adamant that they don't want to go over to the fairgrounds," Mart said Monday. "(Others) think it might work but they don't want to deal with it." Another group said they were looking forward to seeing how voting will work at ExpoPark, but they will be out of town.

One amenity offered at the fairgrounds will be food and drink, Mart noted. A concession stand with a limited menu will be open between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., offering candy bars, doughnuts, coffee and soda pop to be purchased.

"For this election, we're just doing a real limited menu," she said.

Mart also said the county has no plans to offer entertainment at the polling place, although she said in the future perhaps a nonprofit or private group could find a way to jazz things up.