The GOP primary race for the clerk of Montana’s Supreme Court remained in tight margins in the early ballot counts Tuesday evening.
Republican incumbent Bowen Greenwood led by less than 3,000 votes over Senate President Jason Ellsworth.
With 15% of the ballots counted, Greenwood had 52% over Ellsworth’s 48%. Only two precincts had been fully counted by that tally.
Both candidates campaigned on serving as a sort of conservative counterbalance to a Supreme Court they deem to be more liberal than Montanaâs current electorate, which has increasingly elected Republicans to statewide offices.
![Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=150%2C100 150w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=200%2C133 200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=225%2C150 225w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=540%2C360 540w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=750%2C500 750w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=990%2C660 990w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C690 1035w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C800 1200w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=1333%2C889 1333w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=1476%2C985 1476w, https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/mtstandard.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/c5/8c587201-7666-503a-88f3-dac4f3be51cf/6630389e21917.image.jpg?resize=1763%2C1176 2008w)
Senate President Jason Ellsworth addresses the Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform during a meeting in the Montana State Capitol on April 29.
However, the job is largely administrative: keeping records, swearing in new attorneys, and ensuring public access to the courts. Greenwood has expanded the public information functions of the job, as well, with emailed digests of Supreme Court orders and a âCases in the Newsâ page on the Clerkâs websiteâboth provide the public access to free court filings for their review, and neither bears politically charged language.