Wrong-sized ballots delay results in Montana US House race

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Poll printing errors have delayed election outcomes for Montana’s new congressional seat, forcing a small northwestern county to depend votes by hand within the Republican major race between former Inside Secretary Ryan Zinke and former state Sen. Al “Doc” Olszewski.

Zinke led Olszewski by 1,064 votes, or 1.3 proportion factors, out of 79,198 votes counted, as of 11 a.m. native time Wednesday. Missoula County has 2,500 excellent ballots that aren’t anticipated to be counted till Monday, whereas Lincoln County has an estimated 6,000 ballots handy depend.

A vendor printed the Lincoln County ballots on the wrong-sized paper, they usually couldn’t be run by a machine tabulator, the secretary of state’s workplace mentioned Wednesday. By legislation, ballots should both all be counted by machine or all counted by hand, spokesperson Richie Melby mentioned.

Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder Robin Benson mentioned in a press release that the hand depend was anticipated to take two to a few days. Election officers began counting ballots on Tuesday.

Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, was thought-about the favourite within the race and had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Montana gained its second congressional seat by redistricting after the 2020 census. Zinke had represented Montana within the state’s different congressional district earlier than leaving to affix the Trump administration.

Zinke’s tenure within the Trump administration was marked by federal investigations into his journey, political exercise and potential conflicts of curiosity. One investigation decided Zinke lied to an company ethics official about his continued involvement in a industrial actual property deal in his hometown.

Zinke resigned in early 2019, writing that “vicious and politically motivated assaults” towards him had “created an unlucky distraction” in fulfilling the Inside Division’s mission.

The winner of the race between Zinke and Olszewski will face Democrat Monica Tranel, an lawyer, in November.

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