Turnout was high in Cascade County for the Nov. 3 election.

Numbers aren’t official yet and a handful of ballots remain to be hand-counted during the Nov. 17 canvass, which will certify the local results.

Terry Thompson, county elections administrator, told The Electric that things went smoothly on Tuesday and polls closed at 8 p.m. without a line, a vast improvement over 2024 when the line snaked from Exhibition Hall through Four Seasons Arena for hours after polls closed.

Election 2026: Preliminary results in Cascade County

This year, Thompson extended hours in the elections office, including two Saturdays, in the hopes that voters would address any ballot or registration issues before election day.

Those additional hours were helpful and Oct. 31 was the busiest day.

“I think it was worth it,” Thompson said.

She had additional staff helping with ballot processing and a group of county employees helped scan 1,100 to 2,000 ballots every night for the last few weeks so that they were prepared to tabulate as soon as statute allowed on Nov. 3.

County elections office expanding hours ahead of November election

On Nov. 5, Thompson provided updated numbers on absentee versus poll voter turnout.

The numbers aren’t finalized yet as elections staff continues processing inactive voters who reactivated their status at the polls on Tuesday and provisional ballots.

• active absentee voter count: 36,151
• absentee ballots accepted: 27,062
• absentee voter turnout: 75 percent
• active poll voter count: 7,863
• poll ballots cast: 2,701
• poll voter turnout: 34 percent
• total votes tabulated: 29,763
• total Cascade County active voters: 44,014
• voter turnout, combined absentee and poll: 68 percent

Throughout the night as ballots were counted, two Montana House district races looked tight and potentially headed to a recount.

By Wednesday morning, the gap had widened in HD 23 between Eric Tilleman and Rebecca Bodgen-Richards.

In House district 20, Steve Keller, a Democrat, edged out incumbent Republican Melissa Nikolakakos by 46 votes.

Thompson said there were no provisional ballots in that race but two absentee ballots will be counted on Monday since they had signature issues that were resolved by the deadline.

Thompson said those two votes won’t be enough to bring the race to a recount under state law.

The following will be hand-counted on Nov. 9:

• rejected absentee ballots with signatures resolved and now accepted: 3
• provisional ballots: 49
• write-in for Jami Dee Woodman (U.S. Senate seat): 20

The county canvass is scheduled for Nov. 17.

Typically the County Commission serves as the canvass board, but Commissioner Joe Briggs can’t attend, so commissioners are appointing Clerk of Court Tina Henry to fill his spot during their regular Nov. 10 meeting.

As of Nov. 6, here are the preliminary results in Cascade County.

Cascade County Commission

Tom Lynch (R): 16,521

Barbara Bessette (D) (did not respond to questionnaire): 112,463

Sheriff

Jesse Slaughter (R): 22,695

County Attorney

Josh Racki (R): 22,266

Clerk and Recorder

Lynn Deroche (R): 22,634

Treasurer/Superintendent of Schools

Diane Heikkila (R): 22,548

Public Administrator

Gerald Boland: 19,678

Justice of the Peace, Department 1

Brian Bebbington: 15,175

Robert Polich (did not respond to questionnaire): 8,608

Justice of the Peace, Department 2

Should Steven Fagenstrom be retained?

Yes: 23,901

No: 3,093

District Court Judge

Should John Parker be retained?

Yes: 22,188

No: 4,584

State Races

Public Service Commission

District 1

Jeff Pattison (R): 10,557

Angeline Cheek (D): 9,242

District 2

Annie Bukacek (R): 5,052

Kevin Hamm (D): 3,132

Supreme Court

Amy Eddy: 17,430

Dan Wilson: 10,738

State Senate District 10

Jessica Dyrdahl (R): 2,832

Margaret Mitchell (D): 3,701

State Senate District 11

Steven Galloway (R): 3,679

Valynda Holland (D): 3,087

State Senate District 12

George Nikolakakos (R): 3,964

Mindy Leach (D): 3,646

State Representative District 19

Hannah Trebas (R): 925

Jane Weber (D): 1,657

State Representative District 20

Melissa Nikolakakos (R): 1,940

Steve Keller (D): 1,986

State Representative District 21

Trevor Funseth (R): 2,510

Lela Graham (D): 1,798

State Representative District 22

Jason Lorang (R): 1,325

Neal Miller (D): 1,146

State Representative District 23

Eric Tilleman (R): 1,847

Rebecca Bogden-Richards (D): 1,746

State Representative District 24

Steve Fitzpatrick (R): 2,355

Pam Carroll (D): 1,685

State Representative District 25

Steve Gist (R): 2,988

Jerry Ferderer (D): 1,243

State Representative District 26

Russel Miner (R): 2,083

Paul Jefferson (D): 971

State Representative District 78

Randyn Gregg (R): 645

Mark White (D): 213

Congressional Races

U.S. Senate

Kurt Alme (R): 14,188

Alani Bankhead (D): 4,158

Kyle Austin (L): 514

Seth Bodnar (I): 10,647

U.S. House of Representatives

Troy Downing (R): 15,653

Brian Miller (D): 10,575

Michael Eisenhauer (I): 2,704

Patrick McCracken (L): 462

Ballot Initiatives

CI-132

Yes: 20,061

No: 8,728

CI-133

Yes: 18,773

No: 9,433

I-194

Yes: 19,014

No: 9,208