As they’ve been highlighted in the local news and across the nation, we’ve learned elections are no small task, and conducting fair and balanced elections requires the willingness of paid public servants and a community working together.
To help explain what the election process looks like for Missoula County, Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman joins Commissioners Josh Slotnick and Dave Strohmaier to highlight updates on recent changes to state election laws/procedures, what races will be on the ballot in the May 3 special district and school board election, and how to get involved with the election process as an election judge. He also addresses the misconceptions around the process for mail elections.
The Elections Office hopes to recruit more than 600 election judges, poll book judges and polling place managers for the upcoming election year. Election judges greet voters, issue ballots, operate equipment, answer questions and hand out “I voted” stickers. They are paid for their service and their training.
New and returning election judges can sign up at www.missoulaelectionjudge.com, by calling 406-258-4751 or by emailing electioninfo@missoulacounty.us. When registering, applicants will be required to provide their name, address and date of birth to verify they are registered to vote in Missoula County.
Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!
As they’ve been highlighted in the local news and across the nation, we’ve learned elections are no small task, and conducting fair and balanced elections requires the willingness of paid public servants and a community working together.
To help explain what the election process looks like for Missoula County, Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman joins Commissioners Josh Slotnick and Dave Strohmaier to highlight updates on recent changes to state election laws/procedures, what races will be on the ballot in the May 3 special district and school board election, and how to get involved with the election process as an election judge. He also addresses the misconceptions around the process for mail elections.
The Elections Office hopes to recruit more than 600 election judges, poll book judges and polling place managers for the upcoming election year. Election judges greet voters, issue ballots, operate equipment, answer questions and hand out “I voted” stickers. They are paid for their service and their training.
New and returning election judges can sign up at www.missoulaelectionjudge.com, by calling 406-258-4751 or by emailing electioninfo@missoulacounty.us. When registering, applicants will be required to provide their name, address and date of birth to verify they are registered to vote in Missoula County.
Thank you to Missoula's Community Media Resource for podcast recording support!
Welcome back to Tip of the Spear with your Missoula County Commissioners, I'm Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, I'm joined by Commissioner Josh Slotnick. Commissioner Vero is unable to make it today. And we are so very pleased and fortunate to have our Missoula County Elections Administrator, Bradley Seeman, with us today. So today we're going to just spend a few minutes talking about the election process, the role of election judges, how people sign up to join the community effort that it takes to run a successful election. And before we get into all of that. And I guess more personal level, Bradley, talk to us a little bit about how you came to be the elections administrator and and what it is that you do in this role.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, I came to this like a lot of people whom are coming to be a part of elections right now. I started in 2006 by signing up to serve as an election judge, and I trained and served in a polling place. I started out in East Missoula during the small election. And I just continued to come back. I really loved it. It was a community involvement. It was a great experience and it was a way for us to celebrate doing our civic duty with all of your friends and neighbors on Election Day. I got hired to work with the County in 2016 and I worked as the election supervisor. As the election supervisor, I helped the elections administrator with a lot of different aspects of election administration and worked really closely on scheduling judges and polling places. And then I was hired into this role in 2020, and I've had the opportunity to serve through one of our largest federal elections through the 2020 election cycle and some of our most robust municipal elections as well.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Great. So, Bradley, the topic of elections has been very much in the news over the last few years, nationally, locally. It's it's something people are really pretty concerned about, more worked up about than at any other time in my life that I remember. Could you review any of the major legal changes that might directly affect Missoula County elections and Missoula County's voters?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, I think there's been three main changes for this year that are really worth voters and the public being aware of, and it is list maintenance. So at this time of year, we are always reaching out to our voters and confirming their address is correct. A mail ballot is not forwardable. So your address on file with the postal service needs to match your address on file with the elections office. We're cross comparing that list and we're sending out mailers to voters who have a difference on those two addresses. We're asking them to reach out and say, Hey, your address doesn't match on file from the postal service to ours. Are you still in Missoula County? Would you like to update your address? Would you like to cancel your registration? We're in the middle of that process right now, and we send two mailers out. One that goes out to the address on file, comes back is returned service. The second one that we're doing is going to be forwarding service. So if you did update your address and you now have your mail sent to Arizona or someplace else, it'll get to that address a little bit easier if both of those don't come back or if we get a cancellation. We're going to go ahead and move that voter to an inactive status. This is required by law. An inactive voter does not automatically get a ballot in a mail ballot election, but they are eligible to show up and vote at a polling place. So that's our first big change. The other two changes that we've had are really large changes that impact voters on Election Day. It's the elimination of same day voter registration previously in Montana. You could come, you could update your address, you could register as a new voter. You could move from one precinct to another precinct or from one county to another county, and that has been eliminated.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:So Bradley, I don't mean to interrupt, but I just wanted to get clear on something. How was it that we got to have same day voter registration in the first place?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:So to be honest with you, I'm not totally positive on the years that it came through. But same-day voter registration has not always been an option for Montana voters. It was added in through the Legislature and through changes to Montana state law. And this was an amazing safeguard. This made sure that if you were an eligible voter, you had the opportunity to cast a ballot, regardless of the fact of whether your registration made it from the motor vehicle department to the elections office, regardless of whether you remember to register by this deadline. If you were an eligible voter, you got the opportunity to cast a ballot on Election Day, and there were so many safeguards in place to make sure that there was no opportunity to cast a duplicate ballot.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:So some somehow there was a law on the books that allowed same day voter registration and that
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Absolutely and the Legislature when they were looking at this previously put it to a vote of the citizens. Do you want to keep same-day voter registration or do you want to eliminate it? And resoundingly, the citizen said, We want to keep this safeguard for elections. We want every eligible voter to be able to vote. Unfortunately, in the 2021 Legislature, that was since removed. With that elimination of same day voter registration, if you want to update your address or move from one county to another, you need to do so by noon the Monday before the election. So your last opportunity to make a change to your voter registration is noon the Monday before the election, so June 6 for the June 7 primary. And I did have one more area that was really important. So changes to the ID you show at a polling place when you go to vote in the past, you used to be able to use any government ID that had your name and your photo on there. You could also use a non-governmental ID like your Student ID, your Griz card, your Costco card, something that had your name and photo. Now there are six specific government issued IDs that you can use, which all have your name and photo. If you don't have one of those, you can use something like your Student ID or your Costco card, but you also need an additional set of documentation to back that up, like a bank statement, utility bill, paycheck or your car registration. That's going to be critical to making sure that voters can vote effectively at the polling place on Election Day.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Good to know. So one thing that is a big concern of ours, Bradley, is what we see as the unfounded allegations of problems with voter integrity elections integrity here in Missoula County. What's your response to that?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, I think it's an area of about education, and I think that's the most important thing we can do is start talking about where, what, when, why, how. And there was a group that did a public records request. Anybody can do a public records request, and they did one in last January. They wanted to count the affirmation or the signature envelopes from the 2020 election when they came in as stewards of public stewards of public records. We offered them the opportunity to review these records. We presented them the records and they did account. Their count didn't have a process established for it, so there was no uniform check between the different people doing the request. Their count also didn't have a double check to it. In elections, we check, double check, triple check and then certify all of our results. So this was a single hand count of the affirmation envelopes, and they said that they counted a number of envelopes that was not the same as the number of ballots that we accepted for the election. Now there's another group, which is the Republican Central Committee, which has made a similar request and as stewards of public records, we'll always fulfill a public records request as we're required to. And it's not a recount, it's not an audit of the election. It's a public records request asking to count the affirmation envelopes and
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:What are the affirmation envelopes? So this is what you sign when you return your ballot back in. So this is important because an affirmation envelope is not the exact same thing as a receipt for a ballot. Not every ballot that we receive has an affirmation envelope, and not every ballot affirmation envelope we receive has a ballot inside it.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:So, so can you unpack that a little bit? What's an example of a ballot that wouldn't have an envelope or an example of an envelope that wouldn't have a ballot?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:You bet. So we have over 600 people who vote overseas. They do this electronically. And so there is no envelope for those voters, they instead sign an affirmation form and submit that back with their ballot. They don't have the same signature envelope that you might be used to if you voted in the municipal election last year. In addition to that, we have other voters who may be working to save postage and put both of their and their partner's ballot in the same envelope. Since we can't say for sure whose ballot was whose, we have to reject that one. So that might be an example of a ballot that we have an affirmation envelope and didn't count a ballot.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:And you didn't count two ballots in that case.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:In that case we'd record it in as one that we got, but we wouldn't count it. And so then there would be one more affirmation envelope than vote that we had received.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:So is there any value to counting affirmation envelopes?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, I think that if you're looking for something as a large scale discrepancy, it would be an OK way to start this process, however. They're not a record, they're not a receipt of a ballot being cast. The true record and all of your safe votes from the 2020 election are sealed and stored in order to open those sealed records. You must show merit to a court to say, Hey, we think that there's been something wrong with this election. We counted our affirmation envelopes that we've come up with a discrepancy. And so there's a clear process in state law that you can go through to contest an election. And we invited these records requesters that if they felt there was merit behind their allegation of missing envelopes to follow this legal process so that we could show to everybody that their vote was safe and secure. They didn't do this process, and the timeline is has since expired. It's one year after the election.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:I want to be clear, we did invite them. Absolutely.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:We made sure to remind them directly before the deadline that it was coming up
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Because it sure would answer a lot of questions if they had said, Yeah, we would love to take you up on that. We'll have a judge open up all these records and then we can do a real clear, an actual recount. But that never happened.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:That didn't happen. Felt like a broken record, saying, please, this is the legal process you must follow. This is the deadline and we encourage you to do this if you feel there's merit behind your claims.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Makes me think that they didn't feel there was merit behind their claims.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:You know, you'd have to reach out to those requesters to see the exact reason why. But we have such a detailed process that we follow of working in teams, documenting each step and ensuring our work is certified by multiple different steps. So it's first certified locally in the canvass and then again by the state through the federal elections. In addition to that, we also did a post-election audit and confirmed the number of ballots voted were the same as the number of reported and that those races that we counted all matched the reports from the machine.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Well, and in fact, the Board of County Commissioners is involved in certifying elections, and I think we've gotten a firsthand look at just the the rigor that you bring to conducting these elections, which is truly impressive. And I think Missoula has set the gold standard for how to pull these things off in a in a manner that ensures integrity.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Absolutely. We work really hard to be as accurate as humanly possible, but we're humans, so we make mistakes, but we don't hide those mistakes. We admit it. We show them through this canvass process, and we work hard to make sure that everybody knows exactly what happened in the election through 100 percent transparent process. And you know, one of the biggest things that we've seen is that when we're going through records requests, we updated our processes to match that level of accuracy that we're so used to with our election results. So when we have a future records request, we count out every single one of those records that are requested. So for the second affirmation envelope count, we'll be counting those out cross confirming that count, allowing the requester to do with them as they feel, and then counting all of those records back in to maintain custody. That process is closer to our elections process. It doesn't utilize the list reported from the Secretary of State's database, but it is a lot more accurate and we'll at least have a number that we can both agree on after the end of the request. One other thing to cover about this request is that we've got some big statutory deadlines. We just talked about our upcoming election judge training. We also just talked about our list maintenance that we're doing, where we're sending out multiple mailings to voters in order to accommodate this records request and the accuracy that we've all come to know from our office. We're going to be scheduling this process likely for after the election judge trading.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Great slight shift in topic, Bradley, to look ahead to what's coming down the pike, there will be spring special district election. Maybe take just a few minutes to explain what this is all about, what's going to be on the ballot? Why those positions are important to the county. So talk to us about what what lies ahead of us here?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:You bet. So we've got a very exciting spring election cycle coming up. We always have in May, our school and special district elections. These are for your local school board. So the people whom are helping make decisions at the schools and special districts cover a wide variety from water and sewer districts to community councils to fire boards. And each of these different groups are so critical to helping make sure that we can, as citizens, help guide the choices and decisions made within our community, or help make recommendations to the Commission to make sure that all of our citizens voices are heard. So that's our first election coming up, and it's always by mail ballot. So everybody who's an active voter or a provisionally registered voter gets a ballot in the mail for those elections. But there's a big difference between that and the June election coming forward. We're going back to polling places. Ok. In 2020, there was an emergency powers used by the governor to issue a directive that allowed counties to be a mail ballot election. The last Legislature removed those the governor's abilities to use those executive powers. So without a special session of the Legislature all coming together to ask for this to be mailed ballot, we're going to have a polling place election. And so we're gearing up and preparing for this
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Will be the same number of polling places or how how will the the array of polling places look differently?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:So Missoula County is very unique. We have 85% of our voters who choose to vote via mail ballot in every single election. Then we also have the highest number of polling places out of any county in the state of Montana, with 28 different polling places. We're right now meeting with our school districts and our other areas that help fire stations, other places to help serve to confirm those for the 2022 cycle. But we're gearing up and preparing for a full polling place election with a polling place election. Those 85% of voters who choose to vote absentee will still get a ballot in the mail, but those who did not specifically request it will be eligible to go to their polling place and vote on Election Day.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Bradley, do you expect a change in the past from the before times or before COVID in the ratio of absentee mail and ballot folks to polling place people now that people have a choice once again? But we've kind of gotten the habit a little bit of doing mail in ballots. What's your prediction on how those numbers are going to break down?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, we've seen a steady increase in the number of people who choose to vote by mail. There's a lot of different reasons for that, but the number one thing that we hear about anecdotally is it fits my life better. I have more time to make an informed decision and it's easier to vote. Missoula County is very unique. We utilize prepaid postage on all of our mail in ballots, so that's increased the number of people whom are opting to vote by mail. And what we do still have polling place elections to help make sure that everybody gets to vote in the way that they feel most comfortable with. I expect our numbers to remain the same as they have been in the past. If not, go up due to the way that we help provide services with that prepaid postage. And we surveyed our voters and 90% of our voters felt confident that their mail ballot was counted as it should be. That's far bucking the trend nationally.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Yeah. So what does it take to put on an election? I know you've got a staff of five folks or so, but I've also heard you're looking to set up what, 650 election judges? I mean, that's a pretty big fluctuation in staff from five to 650. How do you pull that off?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Two things. We've got a great team and we've got a community that comes together to support elections. That's critical. As we're reaching out, we've far exceeded our 650 goal. That's our minimum goal. We'd need to run a successful Election Day that helps us offer split shifts and make sure that all of our different positions are covered well. Knowing that we're going to be having a polling place election, knowing we may still be in the middle of a pandemic, we want to train an additional, well-trained judges who could sub in in case somebody has to call out sick. So we've got over 650 people signed up right now. Our goal is to get to 800 and we're cruising right up towards that number. So it takes a community that comes together to train. It takes a fantastic staff who can help manage, schedule and get all of these people together so that they know what to do on Election Day and that the service of voters receive is the level we've come to expect. In addition to that, we go through training and that's done before the primary election on even numbered years, and that's really what we're coming into right now.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:So if folks are out there listening and are fired up about this idea of being an election judge, what's the qualifications to be an election judge and how do you go about throwing your hat in the ring to do that?
Speaker2:Well, it's that training, that certification that we're going to be. Beginning on the 22nd of February, that's about a three hour course, and in order to be eligible for that, you need to be 18 years of age, a registered voter in Missoula County and you need to be eligible to serve both in the June primary and November general election. If you're interested in signing up, you can visit www.missoulaelectionjudge.com and that will provide you with all the information. We have got a wide variety, of course, times and this year we're offering them both in-person and online.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Oh OK.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Are there some dates you want people to really have in mind as we're headed into election season?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Yeah, I think, you know, we want to make sure that people are aware of some upcoming dates and deadlines, specifically because of that close of regular registration and then no more same day voter registration. So we are going to have a school special district election that's coming up on May 3 and the last day you can send a form in the mail to get registered for. That is April 4. From there you have until that Monday before the election to come in person. Ballots are going to mail on April 13, and you'll have to be registered all of your updates made by Monday, May 2 at noon. So that'll be for that May 3 school and special election. So directly after that, we have our upcoming federal primary election and that's going to be a polling place election. So you'd need to be on the absentee list to get your ballot in the mail for that. The close of registrations May 9, ballots mail on the 13th and you need to have all of your registration completed in person by Monday, June 6 at noon. Now, note that if you want to check your information, you can go to www.myvoterpagemt.com
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:And you can check your own personal information to make sure it's all up to date?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:That's going to tell you where you're registered. That's going to tell you your mailing address to help you double check, and it's going to let you know if you're getting your ballots in the mail.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Can you say that again? Just one more time?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:You bet. It's www.myvoterpagemt.com.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Thanks.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:So that's going to let you know all your information to make sure you're prepared and ready for the upcoming election.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:That is super helpful information, thanks, Bradley.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:If there's one thing you want people to really know about our elections, especially in this climate right now, where there's people throwing stones nationally and locally with, I'd say, real dubious motives and no real ground to stand on. And that's me saying that, not you. What do you want our locals are people to know our Missoula County residents to know about our elections?
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:I think it's that your vote is safe and secure. Your vote has been safe and secure. And if you have questions about this, we are working so hard to make sure that voters understand our process and that our transparent process is easy to access. We're going to be hosting tours as we're doing these individual processes right before the election, so it's an opportunity to come in and see for yourself firsthand all of the checks and balances.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Fantastic.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:That's great. And as we've been closing with these podcasts lately, we like to ask our guests if you've been reading any, any good books lately. Of course, I just mainly do scratch and sniff these days. But but I hear there, there are good books out there.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, in addition to the Election Judge Handbook and Montana Title 13 election laws, I started reading a couple of other fun books, and I recently started reading The Art of Racing in the Rain.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Is this a bike bike racing.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Well, it's about a dog and a dog that wants so much to please its owner, do great in life and come back as a human. And for me, who's always wanted to do so great in life and come back as a dog, it's been a fantastic book.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Well, you got anything you read or run across lately or want to pass on?
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:No, I don't. I wish I did. I've been reading a lot of email lately, and I got I got nothing for you. Oh, good. Oh well, I wrote, I have. I have actually good. Good. Yeah, there is a book that I usually read a paragraph a night and then fall asleep. No, no. It's much more engaging than that. It's called The Pyrocene by Stephen Pyne, a noted fire historian.
Speaker3:A Pyrocene. All of a sudden, that name makes sense now.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:It does. We are in an era that might be defined by fire in a different way. So you were going to say, you're saying,
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Oh, I just I finished reading one that I really enjoyed a little lighter than usual, but it was really quite enjoyable by Nick Offerman called Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, where I felt like he wrote this book specifically for my demographic, which kind of felt strange to be such a target market, but I really enjoyed it.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Well, folks out there go to your local book purveyor and buy a few of these copies. Yes.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Missoula County Library has that on hold right now.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:You know it's a good one. All right. There's a Montana section in that book.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Thanks so much, Bradley. We really appreciate all the work that you and your state.
Commissioner Josh Slotnick:Keep it up and thank you. Thank you.
Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman:Thanks for having me, guys. I really appreciate it.
Commissioner Dave Strohmaier:Thanks.