GREAT FALLS — A group of people came together outside the Cascade County Courthouse Annex in Great Falls on Monday, December 11, 2023, to protest a proposal to remove election duties from the County Clerk and Recorder’s Office.
"It's our right as citizens to elect the person that takes care of our elections," said Lisa Bennett. "If that goes to a government employee position, then we the people lose our voice. We no longer have a say, and the person who is in that position is now no longer accountable to us. What happens is, they're accountable to the government, and they don't have to listen to anything we have to say. We don't want our voice taken away. It's important that this stays in an elected position."
Beth Cummings explained her position: "If they wanted to replace Sandra or take that away, they should've changed that before she ran. Once she ran, she paid the fees, and everything legally for her to have that position. They cannot just rip that from the voters. We believe that it's illegal and that it won't bode well for both of them. It's truly going against democracy. I don't care if you're a Democrat, I don't care if you're a Republican appointee. This matters to every single voter equally, and we should all be standing up and saying 'no'."
The resolution will be brought before the commission during its public meeting on Tuesday, December 12, at 9:30 a.m.
The meeting has been pre-emptively moved from the commission chambers to the Montana ExpoPark to accommodate what is expected to be a large crowd.
Click here to read the full text of the resolution.
Cascade County Commissioner Joe Briggs said last week that the main concern he’s heard from constituents is that an elected official should not oversee the election process.
“We had a lot of people coming in with concerns about the election and at every commission meeting, we were getting folks expressing their concerns. And one of the themes that came out of it, certainly not the only theme, but one of the themes was how can you trust an election where the person who's in charge of the election is on the ballot,” Briggs said. “And so I actually tried to accomplish this before that election because it became clear to me that was a very valid question. Why should an elected official who's on the ballot be in charge of the process counting the vote?”
Cascade County Clerk & Recorder Sandra Merchant, who was elected to office in 2022, believes the move is personally and politically motivated.
“Joe Briggs has been talking about it since I won the election, and he's brought it up several times, and I figured it would be before the next election. Because it's political. A lot of it's political,” Merchant said. “I think there's a lot of animosity as well. I have never seen such hatred and vitriol and it's been surprising to see all that. I didn't think local government would be that way, but it is."
Commissioner Briggs and commissioner Jim Larson are expected to vote in favor of the resolution, while commissioner Rae Grulkowski, an ally of Merchant, has indicated she will oppose. All three commissioners are Republicans.
If the resolution passes, Briggs said the commission will appoint an interim election official until a permanent one can be hired.
