Panel discusses elections

The Sanders County Democrats earlier this month invited a group of panelists to discuss election integrity. “Elections: Integrity and Involvement” was attended by about 30 community members on January 14 at the Paradise Center.

Mindy Ferrell is the chairperson for the Sanders County Democrats and welcomed the speakers. First to speak was Jesse Mullen, a candidate for Secretary of State, who discussed election integrity in the state of Montana and the training that elections staff undergoes. “We have to do more work as a state and even within our counties to ensure that the public understands we really, truly do have safe elections,” Mullen said. Mullen also detailed an election committee that reviewed integrity in Montana and what is being done to combat misinformation.

Frank Garner, a retired chief of police from Kalispell and a Republican who represents House District 7, talked to the community members about proposed initiatives to Montana’s constitution that would change the state’s primary elections. Garner is part of the group Montanans for Election Reform, which states on their website that “with open primaries, we will have the freedom to vote for the best candidate, regardless of party.”

Montanans for Election Reform are proposing two changes to the state constitution. CI-126 would impose a top-four primary in the state. That would mean that the top four vote-getters in a race would move on to the general election, regardless of party. CI-127 would require a majority for a candidate to win a state race. Instead of simply winning by having more votes than a competitor, the initiative would require a full majority to win.

The final presenter during the Jan. 14 forum was Eric Buhler, executive director of the group RCV Montana, which is pushing for the state to implement ranked choice voting. Buhler explained that with ranked choice voting (RCV), voters rank the candidates on their ballots. The winners are determined by tabulating how many first-choice votes a candidate gets, second-choice votes, etc. Buhler explained how the process is working in Maine and Alaska, the only two states so far to establish RCV for federal and state elections. He said that several other states are pursuing the programs.

Fore more information, visit http://www.montanansforelectionreform.com or http://www.rcvmontana.org.