by Ken Toole | Jan 5, 2025 | Elections
During the Cascade County election canvas meeting in November, the county’s new election administrator, Terry Thompson, provided a scathing criticism of local election deniers. Usually watching a vote canvas is like watching paint dry. So, when Terry Thompson said she wanted to take it as an opportunity to respond to accusations about her office, people paid attention. Thompson began her remarks:
“I’m going to make some public comments, because I never get to make public comments. I get to sit here and listen to the public accuse me and the election office of various things. I’ve been privy to an email that was sent out from the 5 for 5 group that tends to come in here and do public comments.”
Ever Hear Of 5 For 5?
If you’re not familiar with 5 For 5, you are not alone. An email sent out by the group says 5 for 5 is “Connecting the Citizens of Cascade County.” The email included a disclaimer, “5 for 5 does not endorse any candidate or guest speaker.” WTF 406 has not been able to find anyone locally who had ever heard of the group.
The Montana Secretary of State’s website listed a limited liability corporation in Kalispell called 5 For 5 Capitol. The United Church of Christ has a special offering program called 5 For 5. WTF406 contacted church officials who said they had no idea what this group is. WTF406 sent a message to the email address listed on their correspondence. No response.
Email From WTF406.com To 5 For 5
====================
Greetings,
We are in possession of your correspondence urging people to attend the 11-20 county commission meeting. Though the email said it was from 5 for 5, an organization we are not aware of, the entire email was written in first person. We are curious about both your organization 5 For 5 and who the writer is.
It’s ironic that you send an anonymous email while demanding integrity and making unsupported claims and innuendos about private individuals and public employees. Before publishing a piece on your activities we would like more information about the goals and leadership of your organization. Specifically:
What are the goals and objectives of 5 for 5?
Who are your leaders/officers?
Please respond by December 27th. Thank you.
WTF406blog.
===END===
Just How Angry Was Terry Thompson? Pretty Angry
Below we provide selected quotes to give readers a feeling for Thompson’s anger and frustration dealing with this group. If nothing else it is entertaining. (WTF406.com cleaned up some of the errors from the county’s automatic transcript program)
“I’m not a politician, so I’m going to fight back when people talk about what I’m doing, the job I’m doing, the people that I hire, the people that I work with.”
“I did call Rena Moore. I am not a fool. I’m an intelligent woman with many leadership skills. And I am going to reach out to the people that did this job for 16 years. I did my job for 16 years at the Realtor Association, and I get contacted all the time.”
“But she (Rae Grulkowski) had to ask me the other day, why didn’t I call Sandra instead of Rina? Well, let me tell you, Sandra never ran a Presidential election first of all, so I don’t think she could give me very good advice.”
“There was a group of observers, supposedly observers, that went to the lines and were taking their poll watchers. They were supposed to be poll watchers, but they got themselves involved in obstructing our election. They went to the lines and started telling people, oh, just go to the precinct, and you can vote.Well. Can you imagine the mess that we’ve had?”
“Let’s talk about the staff. I inherited a staff that was hired by Sandra Merchant, and several of those people are their friends that hung out together at the Pachyderm [Club].”
“But here’s the problem.You see, because I was supposedly raised a girl, I could be puppeteered like Sandra was puppeteered. But it’s not happening with me. And so now the attacks are coming, because I’m not letting them infiltrate the election office. I am keeping it as nonpartisan as possible.”
“Was that a setup? I think maybe that it was a setup. Maybe I was being sabotaged by Sandra Merchant and Rae Grulkowski.”
“There’s a lot of of mudslinging going on about what I didn’t do and what I did do, and I’m here to say I’m sick and tired of being under the shadow of Sandra Merchant. I’m tired of this group coming in here and bashing you (county commissioners.”
“I get sick and tired of hearing that I should do things like Sandra. I get text messages. You should be working for Sandra. She should have her job back.”
“I’m not going to have this crap going on and being said about this office… They were calling judges when they were working in there [at the polling place], asking them what we’re doing. Those people would come and tell me, ‘Oh, Julie Bass called me. I don’t want her calling me.’ Stop taking her call. It would be pretty simple. People [were] giving me their communications, because they see that this is [a] personal attack.”
Here is the link to the video of the canvas meeting. Terry Thompson’s relevant comments begin at 1:49:00
https://us02web.zo
om.us/rec/play/5JLHpjTWKDdJ9X9SvOpOy5QpDHdKJC-AOJH-pMtdNpdZGsuQaR77yO_ZaFd_hi6W-tjXY9-acgRrrzNV.iOxAu13KbfjEl9cZ?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2Fd2gXSBeQ7EZ0CyX8azLQYxsodSnEbRZLDjU4PSDggNUOub_orDr4oXj0rnrpN1c.qtYd71PziTI9Gk8v
Just More Of The Same Old Crap
WTF406.com has commented extensively on the process which was used in hiring Terry Thompson. Commissioner Rae Grulkowski clearly skewed the process to assure that Rina Moore would not be hired. Moore subsequently filed a political belief discrimination suit, and the county ended up paying her $52,500 to settle the complaint.
https://wtf406.com/2024/03/grulkowski-plays-dirty-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
https://wtf406.com/2024/09/rea-grulkowski-you-cant-make-this-stuff-up/
Good For Terry Thompson
Thompson’s comments in this meeting are a rare example of a public employee defending themselves, their employees, and their supervisors against unwarranted attacks for doing their job in a conscientious manner. She has performed her duties in an objective and professional manner in very difficult circumstances. The sad truth is that election deniers are setting out to destroy free and fair elections in Montana. People like Terry Thompson, and Rina Moore before her, are all that stand between us and the chaos offered by the far right wing.
Below Is Copy of 5 For 5’s Email
===========================
Subject: TODAY! ELECTION ACTION ! Tune in Speak up! @2pm
From: 5 for 5 <[email protected]>
Date IL/2O/2O24, 11.:L6 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Folks the “show” continues as our County Commissioners Jim Larson and Joe Briggs continue to create a story to explain away their incompetence of our elections once. Remember they stole your right to vote for EA and removed Merchant from her duly elected position.
Yesterday, EA Thompson (their hire) explained that the numbers in the election were off, and she opened (by herself) the sealed signature envelope boxes and found several ballots left in envelopes. Changing the election results.
I requested the BP34 forms on 11l9l24. They are used to reconcile all received absentee ballots.
She refused to print them and gave multiple excuses – I already knew we were off.
How? I have been working with the MT Data team which purchased voter roll history and information from the secretary of state office it is updated daily. We knew the election was off.
The primary was also off but became aware to late and then person loss interfered with timeline.
The EA’s numbers still are off the machine was NEVER correctly tested.
Election protocols were not followed. I was told Rina Moore (who just got a 52k pay out from the Briggs and Larson on the backs of the taxpayers) was the consultant on this election.
Was this a setup?
I believe it to be a CONTINUATION of a SHOW that the entitled commissioners have played at the EXPENSE of the taxpayers.
Briggs and Larson’s decision to create Resolution 23-62 has cost the taxpayers well over 150K ,
the annual salary of the position and their (Briggs and Larson) incompetence has burdened us electors
What can you do?
Demand this election is voided and redone. We are not the only county with problems
Hundreds of electors did not get to vote on 11l5. Terry Thompson said the error happened due to short staff. Staffing for an election is a requirement of the commissioners. I spoke to this weeks before the election in a commissioner meeting once again making me wonder is this just a setup. Maybe to bring back Rina Moore or her crony Lynn Deroche.
TODAY DURING PUBLIC COMMENT AT THE COUNTY WORK SESSION DEMAND RESOLUTION 23-62 be RESCINDED. BRIGGS AND LARSON to RESIGN
(WTF 406 has deleted the final few sentences of the email to conserve space)
==End==
by Helena Lovick | Dec 3, 2024 | Elections
The majority of the American electorate voted for Donald Trump for President, a conman with 34 felonies, a rapist, and a Hitler admirer. Wow. I will admit that I was surprised that he won the popular vote. This is some scary but also fucking embarrassing shit. Embarrassing on an international scale. Here is our leader! He can’t string a sentence together unless it’s talking about how big his rallies are.
But How Bad Is It?
Really fucking bad.
The sickening truth is, it’s going to be as bad or worse than we saw in the first Trump administration. Many people are going to suffer under the upcoming regressive policies.
Republicans hold all three branches of the federal government in America. From the stacked right-wing judges in the Supreme Court, both chambers of Congress and the Presidency, they hold them all. In Montana, our State Supreme Court is in slightly better shape with a majority of moderate judges, but our State Legislature still has a Republican majority, and our Republican Governor Gianforte is an ultra rich religious extremist who thinks the earth is only 6,000 years old. As a treat, Gianforte gave people record high property tax hikes while cutting his own taxes.
WHAT CAN WE DO??
Before I get into a closer look at the election results for Montana, I want to speak briefly about my hope and determination for the future.
If you are scared and worried about our country, the solution is civic engagement. We need to be building local community, talking to our elected officials, holding our politicians accountable and continuing to bend the path of this country towards justice. It took them 40 years to dismantle Roe v. Wade. and it’s going to take time for us to change the right-wing capture of our government. And unless you want to live under a dictatorship, it’s going to take some work to dig us out of this hole. FIND YOUR PEOPLE. Go to community meetings. Show up. Volunteer. Talk to your friends and family and get them involved, too. Register voters that understand the danger we are in. You can make things better.
So What Happened in Montana?
Sadly, the red trend continued. Not surprisingly, we saw a growing right-wing slant in Montana over the past decade, because from October 2008 through May 2024, for every two Democrats moving to Montana, slightly more than three Republicans did the same.
All Statewide Seats are now held by Republicans
As we saw in 2020 and 2022, all statewide Democratic candidates lost in 2024. With the ouster of Montana’s last statewide Democratic official, U.S. Senator Jon Tester, Republicans hold every statewide seat. Dismantling of our public services such as Medicaid, access to public lands, tax cuts for the rich, and rising property taxes are all on the table.
How did the vote breakdown?
Jon Tester lost his senate seat to newcomer Tim Sheehy (45% to 53%). Montanans voted against a Senator who has continually proven his support of rural hospitals, abortion rights, infrastructure funding that directly helped Montana, and elected a man who is adamantly anti-abortion and will likely align with an effort to pass a national abortion ban. At the same time, voters passed the abortion rights measure of CI-128 to enshrine abortion rights in our state constitution, 58% Yes to 42% No. That is completely wild. I’m not sure if people know that federal law supersedes state law. If there is an abortion ban on the federal level, then there is an abortion ban in Montana no matter what our state constitution says.
But the happy outcome for CI-128 is a promising sign that Montanans still support women’s rights to their own healthcare decisions. There is space to have a discussion on the disconnect of who is being elected and what the voters and Montanans actually want.
Things are not all bad.
As mentioned above, CI-128 won handily. Democrats broke the supermajority in the Montana State Legislature, and Democrat Jane Weber won her election bid for a Montana House seat in Great Falls. Jane Weber’s win marks the first Democratic legislator elected in Cascade County since 2018.
Map of Montana’s 2024 Legislative Seats. Blue for Democratic seats, Red for Republican seats.
Even in the flood of other bad election news, we did have promising wins for Democratic policies in Montana. Things are not hopeless. Let’s build on that and do the local organizing work to fight for a better future.
by Ken Toole | Dec 2, 2024 | Elections
An investigator with the Montana Human Rights Bureau issued a report finding that the Secretary of State’s office discriminated against Rina Fontana Moore when it emailed the Cascade County Commission urging them not to hire her for a position running the election office.
After removing election duties from Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant last December, the county commission opened an election administrator position. Rina Fontana Moore applied for the open position. In a highly suspect hiring process, the commission hired Terry Thompson, who had no experience or training in running elections. Fontana Moore has 16 years experience and extensive election administration training. (See our post about the hiring process: https://wtf406.com/?s=Rae+Grulkowski+)
Secretary Of State Urged County To Deny Fontana Moore Election Job
On February 14th, the Republican Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen, sent an email to the Cascade County Commissioners urging them not to hire Fontana Moore: “Please do not hire Ms. Moore or a member of her administration as Cascade County’s Election Administrator. Doing so would directly undermine the voters of Cascade County, among other reasons.” Her letter closed, “Thank you and God Bless, Christi”. The next day the county commission voted to offer the job to Terry Thompson.
Commissioners Joe Briggs and Jim Larson said they were surprised by the email. Both said they felt it was inappropriate. Briggs said, “I took it as a personal political statement that was done inappropriately.” The county attorney’s office contacted the secretary of state’s office. Jacobsen’s legal counsel said she had a First Amendment right to make the comments. When contacted by The Electric, Jacobsen’s office did not respond.
Fontana Moore Files Discrimination Complaints
Eleven days later (February 27), Fontana Moore filed discrimination complaints with the Human Rights Bureau of the Department of Labor. \One complaint was filed against Cascade County for discrimination based on her political beliefs in denying her the election administrator position. The other was against the Montana Secretary of State for advocating a discriminatory action by Cascade County.
Merchant And Grulkowski Mum About Meeting With Secretary of State
On March 1, two days after Fontana Moore filed her complaints, Jenn Rowell of the Electric was at a meeting in the Capitol building in Helena. She saw County Commissioner Rae Grulkowski and Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant going into the Secretary of State’s office. They came out about 20 minutes later. The Electric contacted Grulkowski and Merchant and asked what their business was in the Secretary of State’s office and if county funds were spent on their visit. They did not respond.
Cascade County Settles With Fontana Moore
The Human Rights Bureau accepted Fontana Moore’s complaints and initiated an investigation. As part of the process, the parties in human rights complaints attempt to resolve their complaints through mediation. On October 4, the Cascade County Commission approved paying Moore $52,500 to settle the complaint against the county on the advice of their attorney. The settlement resolved the complaint.
Rae Grulkowski was the only county commissioner voting against the settlement. Her actions on the hiring committee clearly put the county at risk in the discrimination complaint. Ironically, the county paid for Grulkowski to have an attorney separate from the outside lawyer the county hired to defend against the complaint. (See our post on Grulkowski’s legal fees: https://wtf406.com/?s=Grulkowski+)
Secretary Of State Declines To Settle; Complaint Goes to Formal Hearing
The Secretary of State’s office declined to participate in mediation. Election administrator and former chief legal counsel for the Secretary of State’s office, Austin James, argued that Fontana Moore should not be appointed election administrator because she lost her 2022 reelection to Merchant for Cascade Clerk and Recorder. Since the case was not settled in mediation, the investigator completed her investigation and found that the Montana Secretary of State’s actions were discriminatory. The case will now move forward to a formal hearing.
by Ken Toole | Nov 20, 2024 | City, Elections, Taxes
The successful attempt by Rick Tryon to take money from the library and give it to public safety in Great Falls has less to do with protecting the public and more to do with the attack on public libraries here in Montana and across the country. Let’s recap the attack on our local library.
Remember The Library Mill Levy
In February of 2023, the city commission voted unanimously to place a levy on the ballot to increase funding for the library. The proposed levy would raise $1.5 million. In April, anti-library activists, including members of the Pachyderm Club and other loosely affiliated individuals, formed a political action committee to raise money and oppose the levy. They ran a very nasty and aggressive campaign with lots of misinformation and false allegations. Sandra Merchant’s administration of the election was so suspect that a judge appointed a special monitor to assure that the election was conducted properly. The election was held on June 6th. The proposed increase in mills was approved by voters.
Tryon and McKenney Seek Revenge in Board Appointments
The first indication that Tryon and his supporters were going to “get even” with the library came in July with the next appointments to the library board. Based on recommendations from the library board, Jerry Hopkins, a current librarian for the school district, and current board member Anne Bulger came before the city commission for appointment. All of a sudden Tryon, accompanied by Joe McKenney, raised concerns about the “process” used to appoint board members. They wanted to see the positions advertised, something that had not been required in the past. In fact, both Tryon and McKenney had voted to reappoint two members of the Business Improvement District just two weeks before. Neither raised any concerns about the “process” in making those appointments. https://wtf406.com/2023/08/city-commission-changes-the-rules-for-library-board-appointments/
The library went through the new selection exercise, advertising the openings, conducting public interviews, and came back with a recommendation to appoint Bulger and Hopkins to the library board. Rather than accepting the library board’s recommendation, Tryon, McKenney and Eric Hinebauch voted to appoint Noelle Johnson without interviewing any of the applicants. Johnson had pointed out in her application that she had opposed the library levy. After forcing the library board to jump through the hoops of advertising and interviewing 11 applicants and then ignoring their recommendations, the Electric reported that Tryon said of his vote that he wasn’t basing it on technical qualifications.
Tryon’s $30 Million Safety Levy Failed Popular Vote
Now let’s take a look at Tryon’s failure to pass a safety levy. In January of 2021, Tryon floated the idea of putting together a task force to examine the needs and costs for improving public safety in Great Falls. In March, Tryon presented a draft resolution to implement the study process to the full commission. The city commission approved setting up the task force. In November, the task force recommendations were presented to the commissioners. The recommendations from the task force presented a long (and expensive) list. In spring and early summer of 2023, the commision authorized placing a $21.17 million public safety infrastructure bond, and a separate $10.7 million public safety operations levy, on the ballot. In November, the public safety levy and accompanying bond both failed by wide margins.
Library Funding Cut Has Little to Do With Public Safety
To recap, the identified need for public safety in Great Falls was estimated by the city to be a little over $31 million. The total raised by the library mill levy passed by voters was $1.5 million. If the city takes back its portion (the library serves the city and county) of the approved mill levy for public safety, it will cost the library $842,800, which is 27% of its total budget. That means reducing hours, services and staff. The library board has proposed giving $301,000 to the city as a compromise. The library believes the compromise will still allow it to meet the goals it advertised in the mill campaign, which was approved by voters.
Cutting through all the crap, Tryon and McKenney have dished out about needing the money, the truth is that taking the small amount available from the library budget does almost nothing to alleviate the $31 million needed for public safety. But it does provide a nifty pretext for siding with the far right in their effort to censor our public library.
by Ken Toole | Nov 10, 2024 | Elections
By now we all know that election day in Cascade County was chaotic. WTF406 has received numerous reports from people about waits as long as seven hours for voters. This election was characterized by confusion, poor organization, and staff who were poorly trained and disorganized.
Responsibility for this mess should be laid directly on the shoulders of the County Commission. Going all the way back to the two years before the election of Sandra Merchant and Rae Grulkowski, it was obvious the national election denier movement had arrived in Cascade County. Former election administrator Rina Moore and her staff were constantly harassed and confronted by people presenting bizarre conspiracy theories straight from the “My Pillow Guy” and his Montana minions, western Montana legislators Theresa Manzella and Brad Tschida. Locally, the Republican Pachyderm Club became a launching pad for promoting election disruption under the guidance of local legislators Steven and Lola Galloway. See our previous post https://wtf406.com/?s=Manzella
The election denier Sandra Merchant defeated veteran clerk and recorder Rina Moore and the shit show began. Merchant proved to be completely incompetent and ultimately the County Commissioners removed election administration from her office. But not before she managed to replace almost all of the clerk and recorder staff with her cronies in the local election denier ranks. When the County Commission hired a new administrator for elections, they selected Terry Thompson as the new administrator in a completely corrupt hiring decision driven by Commissioner Rae Grulkowski. The table was set for the mess we saw on election day. Grulkowski Plays Dirty– Did We Really Expect Anything Else? – What the Funk
We asked a couple of people who were there all day and into the night for their observations. Below we excerpted some of their comments.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Observer #1
On November 5, 2024, I started my day at 6:30 am at the Montana Expo Park observing the voting process. Little did I know what was in store for the next 15 hours.
Election judges early in the day seemed confused about provisional ballots, inactive voters, and some other special circumstances. When judges would signal, by waving a flag, for assistance on questions there would be an approximately 10-minute delay or more in receiving help. Many times, the Election Official did not have the answer. Judges also received conflicting information at times.
Unfortunately, the lines became impossibly long. This happened within 30 minutes of the polls opening. Some voters stood in line for up to 7 hours. Numerous people left without voting out of frustration and need to get to appointments or work. There were 2 to 3 people at computers registering voters and resolving other issues regarding voter registration. Individual voters took it upon themselves to set up chairs that were stacked up against the walls. Why did this not happen before election day? Line management was nonexistent. When the polls closed at 8:00pm, there were over 500 hundred people waiting in line.
People were given conflicting information at times as to where they should line up.Staff were not prepared to handle the large number of people that were registering and having to solve issues with their ballot. Separate stations would have solved the issue and cut down on the time people had to stand in line. Signage would have been very beneficial in directing people where they should go. There were no such signs.
Voters were frustrated after standing in line for hours and then told they were in the wrong line and had to move. Poor communication and information.
There were not enough people staffing the polling place. Why didn’t the Commission forsee this? Many counties will pull employees from other departments to assist on Election Day, why was this an option here.
It was very noticeable the lack of experience of the Election Officials and the Administrator. It was exhausting watching the frustration and fatigue of the people who took the time to turn out and vote. High praises to those people who stuck it out. Mistakes will happen, but not on the scale that I witnessed. Clearly many changes need to be made.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Observer #2
Witnessed multiple voters leaving the lines in the morning saying that they had to get to work. I informed them that if they came back before 8pm they would be assisted. A couple that I remembered did come back
Mass confusion is the best way I can describe what was happening in the polling place. Issues of not knowing where to go or what line to get into were a problem from the start of the day to the end of the day.
Late registration line was set up to serpentine in a side garage. This space was not sufficient in size. The line started weaving into the main hall and creating confusion on where to go or how to get to their precinct table.
A secondary line was set up for handicapped voters. However non-handicapped people got in the line and, once they got up to the late registration table, they were informed that they are not supposed to be in that line and sent to the main late registration line. The handicap line was at most 2 hours and now the voters were sent to the other line that had a wait time of several hours.
One voter came in wearing a Make America Great Again hat. He was approached by Elections staff and was asked to remove it. The Voter took the hat off and put it on his child. I notified the Elections staff about this and he informed me that the child is unable to vote so it doesn’t matter.
I informed the Elections staff of an individual wearing a “Pray to end abortion” pin. While I was informing the worker, a Cascade County Attorney was standing nearby. She informed me that it would be hard to say if that is electioneering and that they will not tell her to remove it.
The Election judges at the precinct tables were informed to wave flags to get the attention of Election staff for assistance. Multiple times I timed them and they waved the flag from as little as 1 minute up to 6 Minutes.Some did not ever get help and would send the voter to get the help that they needed.
Julie Bass was walking around assisting voters. She was not signed in as a poll watcher or observer.
One of the biggest concerns that was noted to me is the severe lack of security. Anyone was able to walk into the count board area or the late registration area. One gentleman from the GOP kept walking behind the counter to talk to election officials. Voters were going behind the counter for assistance and going by the ballots. Extra assistance was brought in and not vetted.
by Ken Toole | Nov 8, 2024 | Elections
Photo: County Commissioner Rae Grulkowski and Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a national group famous for responding to hate group activity, issued a series of three articles examining how disinformation, and those peddling it, are affecting the election process in its publication, Hatewatch. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2024/11/05/how-community-leaders-and-officials-two-states-took-election-deniers
WTF406 copied the section of Hatewatch which covered events in the Cascade County election office below.
Cascade County removes voting processes from election denier
At the other side of the country, the 2020 elections were handily decided in favor of Trump. Republicans won all the local races for the Montana Legislature in Cascade County. Yet Cascade County still found election deniers pushing lies and conspiracy theories. In 2022, an election denier won the race for Cascade County clerk and recorder, a position that administers elections in the county. The victory didn’t last long.
Ahead of the 2022 general election, local election deniers kept showing up at Cascade County Commission meetings questioning the security of local elections, requesting access to voting machines, calling for the elimination of ballot drop boxes and asking for a hand-recount of ballots from 2020. Outside of the county commission meetings, they approached ballot-box watchers about their personal information and political affiliations while also asking for the names and contact information for all election judges since 2020.
“They’ve no right to find out what political party they [ballot-box watchers] might belong to or if they belong to one or what their names are,” then-Cascade County Commissioner Don Ryan told the local press. “They’re asking those questions. That, to me, is kind of an intimidation.”
Many of the tactics used and requests made by the election deniers mirror those used in Georgia and across the country. Local deniers cited discredited conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell as a source for their claims.
Following the 2022 general election, county staff and election officials were preparing provisional and military ballots to be counted, a significant task since the county is home to an Air Force base. Staff called law enforcement when they noticed election deniers circling the building and waiting for the election crew to leave for the night. The election deniers took videos and photos of the election workers and their vehicle license plate numbers. Staff told local media they were afraid and worried this type of harassment could escalate to physical violence.
Election mismanagement harms democracy
With the election deniers and the far right focused on local organizing in 2022, Sandra Merchant, a medical coder with no experience working elections, ran against the 16-year incumbent, Rina Moore, for the position of Cascade County clerk and recorder.
Merchant said she was running for the office because “Election security is a big topic right now,” and she felt that “oversight by the people is necessary to keep the government accountable.”
In an email to Hatewatch, Merchant said she attended a few meetings held by the local election deniers before running for office, but she said she had been “interested in election integrity for a long time.”
The race with Moore was close. A recount declared Merchant the winner by fewer than 40 votes out of just under 29,400 cast. Election deniers showed up at the recount, sporting camouflage, sharing false conspiracy theories and watching the recount with binoculars even though it was happening only a few feet away.
Merchant’s tenure in office was marked by errors, mismanagement of elections and scrutiny from the community. In smaller local elections, community members reported problems such as not receiving their ballots, voters being turned away from the polls, voters receiving multiple ballots, ineligible voters receiving ballots and other irregularities. Her performance led the local library board to successfully sue to have a special monitor appointed to oversee its mill levy election.
A local election protection committee steps in
As the mistakes piled up, concerned community members formed the Election Protection Committee. Jasmine Taylor, the committee’s coordinator, wrote in a blog post that it was created in response to “the ineptitude of Sandra Merchant and the chaos happening within the Cascade County clerk and recorder’s office.” In addition to pointing out mistakes Merchant had made with elections, the committee noted she stacked her office with local election deniers. The Election Protection Committee began campaigning for the Cascade County Commission to remove election duties from Merchant’s office.
According to Taylor, the committee used its “intensive oversight” of county processes to gather information about the problems. This involved going to every county commission meeting to be a source of information for the community and the media. At crucial moments, the committee turned people out for rallies in front of the clerk and recorder’s office.
The committee’s leadership also met consistently with county commissioners and presented documentation of the errors committed by Merchant’s office. “We were going into these meetings with commissioners with 40 pages of errors,” Taylor explained. “Here are 40 voters, and this is what’s wrong in their ballots.” That evidence had a “tremendous impact,” Taylor noted, in getting the conservative commissioners to realize the issue was about elections and not politics.
“It doesn’t really matter if it’s malfeasance or incompetence, because at the end of the day, even if it’s just incompetence, you [county commissioners] have liability,” Taylor said they stressed to the commissioners. “If voters’ rights are being violated, you have liability.”
Despite the controversy, Merchant did little to distance herself from election deniers and hard-right extremists. In May 2023, she did an interview with James White of Northwest Liberty News. Northwest Liberty’s Rumble site features videos of White interviewing a wide range of antigovernment extremists, including Oath Keepers’ Stewart Rhodes, Ammon Bundy, Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers’ Richard Mack and Sam Bushman.
In August 2023, Merchant met with infamous election conspiracy theorist Douglas Frank at her office before he gave a community presentation that evening. Frank travels the country pushing false conspiracy theories about voting machines and urging people to investigate supposed fraud in their areas. Merchant told a journalist it was interesting and encouraged people to follow his advice. Frank told attendees that evening to “rise up” and urged attendees not to call law enforcement, but rather grab their guns when confronted by peaceful protesters.
By December 2023, Cascade County commissioners held a meeting to vote on removing duties from Merchant’s office. Nearly 100 residents testified for nearly seven hours, before the commission voted 2-1 to remove election duties from Merchant and place them under an election administrator housed under the commission.
“It was politically motivated,” Merchant told Hatewatch about the decision. “After I won, and before I had set foot in the office,” Merchant stated, “they said they were going to have me removed.” Merchant did not address the accusations of election errors that were cited in her removal.
The Election Protection Committee treated public officials with respect and presented evidence. According to Taylor, the election deniers led with name-calling, threats and volatility.
The committee also kept their eye on the local problem before them, declining to engage with election deniers on the debunked disinformation championed by Lindell and Frank. Instead, the committee focused on what was happening locally when it came to election problems affecting irrigation districts, city commission races and levy elections for the public library and schools. “We are talking hyper-local,” Taylor said. “Those people [election deniers], for the life of them, could not get off of those national narratives. All they’re doing is conspiracy theories.”
Asked if she had advice for other communities, Taylor said the biggest issue is controlling the narrative. “Establishing credibility is really important,” she said. “Grassroots local really works when you have a group of dedicated people.”
Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series.
Part I: Election disinformation harms communities and democracy
Part II: Cottage Industry of Conspiracy Theorists Peddles Mistrust of Elections
