GREAT FALLS — On December 12th, Cascade County Commissioners will meet at Exhibition Hall in the Montana ExpoPark as they will anticipate a much larger crowd.
This comes after Commissioner, Joe Briggs said he plans to propose a resolution that would strip election duties from the Clerk and Recorders office, and appoint a new staff member to handle elections.
Briggs said the main concern he’s heard from constituents is that an elected official should not oversee the election process.
On Monday afternoon, protesters gathered outside the Cascade County Court Annex in opposition of the actions that are proposed.
"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."
Protester, Beth Cummings explained her position.
"One of the things is that they're relying on 13-1-301 (Link: https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0130/chapter_0010/part_0030/section_0010/0130-0010-0030-0010.html), but there is no procedure in that process to tell them how to do that. 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, she set a prenomination, 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 County Commission will meet at 9:30am on Tuesday, December 12th. The public is encouraged to attend.
