Butte-Silver Bow officials believe 1,000 or so ballots were counted twice during the June 4 primary, meaning all ballots will be unsealed and the votes counted again next week.
People cast their votes in the Butte-Silver Bow primary election at the Butte Civic Center. A judge ordered a recount of the primary election, which will be Tuesday
The new results could affect a few close races, including a four-way contest for state District Court Judge where Ann Shea and Frank Joseph finished with the most votes and were to advance to the Nov. 5 general election.
Shea finished first in that race with 3,031 votes, Frank Joseph had 2,970, William Joyce got 2,906 and Michael McKeon had 2,219. A 1,000-vote discrepancy could affect anyone in that race.
The Clerk and Recorder and a District 5 seat on the Council of Commissioners also were close races.
“I think what happened, because this has happened to us in the past, is that someone accidentally took ballots that had come out of the tabulator, put them in the wrong spot and they got counted again,” Linda Sajor-Joyce, Butte-Silver Bow’s clerk and recorder, told The Montana Standard late Friday afternoon.
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She conducted a more thorough audit of the numbers from all precincts after an interested citizen questioned what appeared to be a discrepancy, she said.
“The number of actual ballots counted exceeded the number of absentee ballots by approximately 1,000 votes,” Sajor-Joyce said in an affidavit the Butte-Silver Bow County Attorney’s Office filed in state District Court.
“It is my belief that some of the races with multiple candidates may be affected by a recount due to the results being so close,” she stated in the affidavit. “A candidate may have been credited with votes resulting from a double-counted ballot, which in turn would skew the results.”
Mike Salvagni, a special District Court judge appointed in the case, ordered the recount and ordered the Clerk and Recorder’s Office to inform all candidates in the Butte-Silver Bow primary and all local media about the matter.
Preparation for a recount would begin at the Butte Civic Center on Monday morning and a recount would start Tuesday, Sajor-Joyce said. It has to be completed by Wednesday because Thursday is the deadline to have all the names and information needed for the general election ballots.
Kelli Fivey, interim county attorney in Butte-Silver Bow, said her office filed the petition for a recount once it was notified of any possible irregularity.
“It needs to be fixed so obviously our office took the opportunity and the responsibility to file the petition,” Fivey told The Standard on Friday. “There is really no other scenario that we would have considered other than making it right.”
Fivey and Matt Enrooth are running for county attorney this year, but they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot, meaning both advanced to the general election no matter what.
No state races will be affected except the one for District Court judge in Butte-Silver Bow, Sajor-Joyce said.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics.
