Election filing season begins
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POLSON — The election filing season for various local offices has begun.
Lake County elections official Katie Harding said that numerous seats are open on governing boards of 10 fire districts, the Flathead, Jocko and Mission irrigation districts, eight water and sewer districts and the Greater Woods Bay Sewer District.
This “special purpose district election” will be held May 8 and consists of only mail-in balloting.
Eighteen seats will be up for the 10 fire districts, while each of the three irrigation districts will have one seat open. The eight water and sewer districts combined will have at least 15 seats open, she said.
Filing for these seats opened on Dec. 14 and closes at 5 p.m. Feb. 12.
Each candidate must fill out a form that must be notarized unless it is signed at the county elections office, which is located in room 121 near the east entrance of the county courthouse.
School district elections
Eight school districts will have a total of 17 board positions open for the May 8 election.
Filing for this all mail-in ballot began Dec. 14 and closes March 29. Candidates running in the Arlee and Salmon Prairie school districts need to file with their respective district office, but candidates in the other districts can either file with the district office or at the county elections office, Harding said.
The other school districts and the number of seats open in each are as follows: Charlo, three; Dayton, two; Polson, four; Ronan, two; St. Ignatius, three; and Valley View, one.
June 5 primary election
Seven county offices will be up for election on June 5.
These include county attorney, clerk/recorder, commissioner No. 3 (Gale Decker’s seat in the Ronan/Pablo area), justice of the peace, sheriff, superintendent of schools and treasurer.
In addition to filing a form, candidates for the county positions must also pay a filing fee that equals .5 percent of the position’s salary. This ranges from $204.84 to $560.18, Harding said.
Candidates who want to run as independents or for a third party such as Green or Libertarian, must gather 5 percent of the votes cast for the winning candidate for that position in the last election.
Kim Christopher’s seat as judge on the 20th Judicial District Court is also up for election, although filing for that takes place through the Montana Secretary of State’s office.
For more information about filing, go online at lakemt.gov/elections or call the county elections office at 406-883-7268.
Statewide races
A number of statewide races will also be on the June 5 ballot.
These include party nominations for the seats of U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, state Reps. Mark Noland, Greg Hertz, George Kipp III, and John Fleming, state Sens. Bob Keenan and Lea Whitford, the Public Service Commissioner No. 5 seat held by Brad Johnson and two state Supreme Court seats held by Beth Baker and Ingrid Gustafson, the latter who was recently appointed to replace Mike Wheat.
