County Votes Are In

A lot will have changed between press time and the arrival of this newspaper, but Valley County's votes have been tallied and counted and the results are in. In total, 4,327 people cast their ballots across all three of the county's precincts out of 5,136 registered voters. That puts the county's turnout rate at just over 84 percent.

As of election night the race for President between incumbent Donald Trump and Joe Biden had not been called in favor of either candidate.

In Montana's race for governor, the Associated Press had called the race for U.S. Representative and GOP nominee Greg Gianforte to win over challenger Democrat Mike Cooney. Valley County voted in favor of Gianforte by a significant margin, casting a total of 2,899 votes for the Republican compared to Democratic nominee Mike Cooney's 1,182. Libertarian Lyman Bishop received 167 votes, six wrote in their own candidates, 67 undervoted the race and six overvoted.

For Montana's hotly contested U.S. Senate seat, incumbent Senator Steve Daines (R) was leading current Governor Steve Bullock (D). The Associated Press had called the race in favor of Daines in the early morning hours of Nov. 4. In Valley County, Daines received 2,953 votes against Bullock's 1,306 votes. Nineteen voters wrote in their own candidate, six overvoted and 43 undervoted.

For Montana's sole US House of Representative seat, Republican nominee Matt Rosendale had the edge over Democrat Kathleen Williams and the AP had called the race in his favor as of early morning on Nov. 4. Valley County voters cast 2,966 votes for Rosendale and 1,232 for Williams. Eighteen wrote in their own candidate, five overvoted and 106 undervoted the race.

In every other statewide race, the Republican candidate was leading the vote count at midnight on Nov. 3. The majority of Valley County votes went to the Republican in each statewide race.

Perhaps the most surprising election result of the evening was the positive prospects for the legalization of marijuana in the state. As of midnight Nov 3, the state appeared poised to legalize recreational marijuana across the state. The Montana Free Press was reporting both measures needed to legalize the drug winning by double-digits and they had called the initiative a success declaring it passed.

Valley County shared the state's sentiment on legalization, voting in favor of Initiative No. 190 with 2,158 votes for and 2,054 opposed. There was one overvote and 132 undervotes on the issue. On the issue of Constitutional Initiative No. 118 which allows the legal age of marijuana consumption to be 21 and places Initiative 190 in line with the state's constitution, county voters were in favor 2,246 to 1,894.

On the issue of limiting local control over gun laws, the county voted in favor of limiting local government control over concealed carry laws by a vote of 2,384 in favor and 1,742 against. At press time, the state appeared ready to strike down that legislative referendum albeit by a slight margin of 50.4 percent of the vote at midnight, Nov. 3.

All of Northeast Montana's representative and senate races were uncontested. Democrat Mike Fox will be the Senator for Senate District 16 which contains southern Valley County. Republican Mike Lang will keep Senate District 17 encompassing northern Valley County. State Representative District 31, which contains Fort Peck and Frazer, will go to Democrat Frank Smith. The rest of Valley County, House districts 33 and 34, will stay in the hands of Republicans Casey and Rhonda Knudsen respectively.

Shelly Bryan will remain the Clerk of District Court after running uncontested for the seat. Paul Tweten will also keep his seat as Valley County Commissioner after running uncontested for the position.

Valley County passed Conservation District Ordinance 2014-1 which amends an earlier ordinance from 2014 that limited free-roaming bison in the district. The ordinance declares that all bison inside the county's boundaries will be classified as livestock and subject to the same regulations. The ordinance passed 1,706 in favor and 527 against.