With 100% of districts reporting, the Montana 2022 General Election results are set in stone. The local canvas conducted by the county commissioners will take place November 21st at 1 pm.
With no contested local elections, rather poor weather on Election Day, and this being a non-presidential election year, voter turnout was fairly light. In Powder River County, 911 out of 1,296 registered voters cast a ballot, for 70.29% turnout. Custer County had a 63% turnout, Rosebud had a 55% turnout, Bighorn a 46% turnout, and Carter County a 80.81% turnout. Statewide, 60.22% of voters cast their ballots this November. By comparison, in 2020 Montana had an 81% voter turnout in the General Election.
606, or 46.7% of Powder River County’s registered voters were sent absentee ballots for the November election. Of that number, 463 were returned, meaning 76% of absentee ballots were returned, versus 65% of in-person registered voters casting their ballots at the polls on Election Day.
Just over 50% of the votes cast in the county were voted via absentee ballot.
In local elections, Lori Fortner garnered 817 votes to win the seat as Powder River County Commissioner.
Cynde Jo Gatlin had 801 votes and won re-election as Clerk & Recorder.
Devin Boman was elected Sheriff/Coroner with 786 votes. Boman was appointed Sheriff earlier this fall after the resignation of previous Sheriff Thumper Draine. Boman’s win in this election will secure his position for the upcoming four year term beginning in January of 2022.
Jeff Noble won his re-election as County Attorney with 665 votes.
Molly Lloyd won re-election as County Superintendent with 816 votes, and Phoebe Amsden won re-election as Public Administrator with 779 votes.
Hattie Arithson won her campaign as County Treasurer/ Assessor, with 742 votes.
88%, or 756 of the 857 votes for Cathy Landa as Justice of the Peace were in favor of retaining her in the position, with 12%, or 101 votes voted no.
83%, or 674 Powder River County voters cast their ballots in favor of Constitutional Amendment No. 48, which was originally introduced in the legislature by Senator Kenneth Bogner of District 19, representing a large portion of Powder River County. The bill passed the Senate and the House and moved on to the ballot, where Montana voters chose to amend the state constitution with language requiring a search warrant for electronic data or communications. The amendment passed handily statewide, with 82% in favor, and 18% opposed. 17% of local voters, or 134, were opposed.
Legislative Amendment 131, a contentious bill known as the “Born Alive Infants Measure”, garnered 63% of Powder River County voters in favor of the bill, or 513 voters. 298 local voters, or 37%, voted against the measure. The measure was voted down statewide, with 231,729, or 53% opposed, and 209,218, or 47% voting in favor of the bill.
In the US House 2nd District race, Republican Matt Rosendale won in Powder River County with 81% of the vote, or 723 votes. Democrat Penny Ronning garnered 7%, or 62 votes, while Sam Rankin, a Libertarian, had 1%, or 5 votes. Gary Buchanan, an Independent, had 12%, or 108 PR County votes. Rosendale won the race with 57% of votes in the 2nd district; Ronning had 20%, Rankin 1%, and Buchanan 22% of the 213,696 votes cast.
In the two State Supreme Court races, both Justices James A. Rice and Ingrid Gustafson won re-election. Rice won 77% of the 389,661 votes cast over challenger Bill D’Alton, who had 22% of the vote. The local vote reflected the statewide percentages, with 78% in favor of Rice and 22 in favor of D’Alton.
Ingrid Gustafson won 54% of the 433,117 votes cast statewide for her seat on the high court, while garnering 31% of the PR County vote. James Brown won 69% of the local vote and 49% of the statewide vote.
In State Senate District 19, Kenneth Bogner ran for re-election unopposed, and won 7,613 votes, with 337 of those votes from Powder River County.
In State Representative District 37, which covers the eastern portions of PR County as well as Broadus, Jerry Schillinger won re-election unopposed and had 4,650 votes. 333 of those votes were from Powder River County.
In State Representative District 41, which covers the more western portions of the county (as well as most land west of Hwy 59 south of Broadus, Republican candidate Paul Green won over incumbent Democrat Rynalea Whiteman Pena, 1,229 to 930, or 57% to 43%. In Powder River County, Green had 451 votes to Whiteman Pena’s 57.
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