Updated March 14 with omitted senate and house candidates from split districts

Candidate filing closed March 11 for state and county positions.

In Cascade County, three candidates have filed for County Commission.

Rae Grulkowski, the incumbent Republican, has filed for reelection.

Eric Hinebauch, also a Republican, filed for the seat, meaning there will be a primary in that race, according to Terry Thompson, the new election administrator.

Don Ryan, a former county commissioner who was appointed to the seat Grulkowski currently holds after Jane Weber resigned, has filed as a Democrat in the race.

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Tina Henry, the current clerk of district court, is running for re-election as a Republican.

In September 2019, Faye McWilliams announced she was resigning as clerk of court before the end of her term.

McWilliams was a Democrat and Henry said in a September 2023 release that she was required to designate herself as a Democrat to apply to fill the remainder of the term.

At the time, several officials told The Electric that the county has typically chosen a replacement from the incumbent’s party when a vacancy occurs and that they would solicit names from the local Democratic committee.

Commissioners conducted interviews with the applicants at the time and appointed Henry to fill the vacancy.

When she filed to run to keep the seat in 2020, she filed as a Democrat.

In September 2023, Henry said, “as most of us are aware, we are currently living in a time of political unrest. This has inspired me to take a deeper look at what I truly believe and to answer the question, am I a Democrat or am I a Republican? In answer to my question, I have decided in the upcoming election, I will be running as a Republican.”

Henry is running unopposed.

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Three incumbent district court judges are running unopposed to keep their seats: Elizabeth Best, David Grubich and John Kutzman.

As of March 13, Thompson said there were 37,419 registered active voters and 11,228 inactive voters.

Inactive voters are those who didn’t vote in the last federal general election and didn’t respond to two confirmed mailings from the county election office; or had a mail ballot returned as undeliverable and didn’t respond to confirmation mailings from the county election office.

Inactive voters can reactivate their status by contacting the county election office that their registration is current; request an absentee ballot or provide a new or update voter registration form to the county election office.

Voter registration numbers are fluid and can change daily, Thompson said.

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Last year, the Cascade County elections office issued 10,800 National Voter Registration Act letters and Thompson said 4,248 voters responded and were added back.

During multiple public meetings regarding elections over the last few months, members of the public said that Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant had removed 11,000 to 12,000 voters who were improperly kept on the rolls.

The Electric requested the county’s report that is submitted to the Montana Secretary of State’s office for the 2023 NVRA numbers, but the SOS office has not responded to that request.

The Great Falls Public Schools board has one seat up for election that will be on the May 7 ballot.

Filing for the school election is open through March 28.

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So far, incumbent Marlee Sunchild, Rodney Meyers and Tony Rosales have filed for the seat.

Brian Patrick, GFPS business operations manager, told The Electric that he’s had “great communication with Terry, and I appreciate her efforts to communicate with the district as we move forward with the election process.”

The Fort Shaw Irrigation District, which is currently involved in litigation with the county over the 2023 election, has a board election set for May 7.

The West Great Falls Flood Control and Drainage District has canceled their May election since there was only one candidate filed by the deadline so that election will be won by acclamation.

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Belinda Klick, clerk of Sun River Valley School District, said she’d only received one candidate filing so far and expected another one, but that it appears they won’t have enough candidates to require an election for their school board and those candidates will be elected by acclamation.

Thompson said the school and special elections will also be conducted by mail and ballots are scheduled to go out April 17.

She said the printing of envelopes for the GFPS election has been completed and the envelopes for the primary are being printed by a local shop. The ballots for both elections will be printed by the county print shop, she said.

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Thompson, who began the job of election administrator on Feb. 21, said she hasn’t yet determined what’s adequate staffing in the elections office and is evaluating how many temporary staff will be needed before the May 7 election and through the June 4 primary.

During the March 11 GFPS board meeting, Thompson told the district that she’s working to make sure their election “goes off without a hitch.”

School officials didn’t ask her any questions during that meeting.

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She said that once she gets settled into the job, she has a goal to get into the schools to teach kids about the importance of voting and elections and wants to establish an internship program with colleges to have students help prepare the elections.

Candidates have also filed for state senate and representative seats and Thompson said those with two or more candidates from the same party running for the same seat would have a primary.

Those candidates are, according the to Montana Secretary of State’s website:

Senate District 13

Lola Sheldon-Galloway, R

Josh Kassmier, R

House District 19

Jane Weber, D

Hannah Trebas, R

Derren Auger, R

House District 20

Rina Fontana Moore, D

Steven Galloway, R

Melissa Nikolakakos, R

Barbara Bessette, D, shows as filed in the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices system, but not the SOS

House District 21

Lela Graham, D

Ed Buttrey, R

Joshua Rosales, L

James Osterman, R, shows in the COPP system but not the SOS system

House District 22

George Nikolakakos, R

Ronald Paulick, D

James Whitaker, R

House District 23

Eric Tilleman, R

Sandor Hopkins, D

Kevin Leatherbarrow, L

Pete Anderson, R

John Proud, R

Josh Denully, R

House District 24

Steve Fitzpatrick, R

Annie Leatherbarrow, L

House District 25

Lui Salina, L

James Rickley, D

Steve Gist, R

House District 26

Russel Miner, R

Dana Darlington, R