(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Updated: Results in, but ballots were still being counted in Cascade County on Wednesday evening – Daily Montanan [1] ['Nicole Girten', 'More From Author', '- May'] Date: 2023-05-03 Results were in after more than 24 hours. One day after the election, the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder’s Office under newly elected administrator Sandra Merchant was still counting ballots, with the voter tabulation machine dysfunctioning Tuesday evening, a poll watcher told the Daily Montanan after 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The Great Falls School Board election results were finally called more than 24 hours after polls closed on Election night Tuesday. “The results have obviously taken longer than normal to obtain,” said Brian Patrick, with the school district, in an email Wednesday evening before results were announced. “After the results are posted, we plan to take our time and thoroughly review all aspects of the election in detail. The next steps will be determined at that point in time.” Citing the “recent issues” in the conduct of the May 2 election, the Great Falls Public Library Board of Trustees is holding an emergency meeting Friday to discuss their upcoming election that is scheduled to be conducted by the county on June 6. The Elections Office has been under public scrutiny after Merchant told the Great Falls Public Schools District and other districts with upcoming elections in February that she would be unable to hold an all mail-in ballot election. In November, Merchant narrowly won the election over 16-year incumbent to the office Rina Moore. Poll watcher Jane Weber, a former Cascade County Commissioner with the newly formed Election Protection Committee, said in a release Wednesday that Merchant did not begin to put ballots into the vote tabulation machine until 9 p.m. Tuesday, when legally the office can start the process sooner. She said because of irregular folding of the ballots, Merchant was feeding fewer ballots than is typical into the machine, extending the process. However, the machine malfunctioned less than two hours later, Weber said, after which Merchant spoke to technical support and ultimately discontinued the count at 1 a.m. Wednesday. “Still counting. Sandra will not speak to us. We are watching,” Weber said in an email Wednesday evening before initial results were in. Weber said in a release Tuesday that on Election Day, voters tried to go to the Election Office but found it closed. Merchant did not respond to an emailed request for comment in time for publication. The Great Falls Public Library Board of Trustees emergency board meeting is scheduled for Friday at 12 p.m. “The agenda will include a discussion of election legal strategy and possible Board action,” a Wednesday library release read. Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect elections results came in late Wednesday. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/05/03/ballots-are-still-being-counted-in-cascade-county-library-announces-emergency-election-meeting/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/