After hearing Sandra Merchant’s lame presentation last Friday, you probably thought things could not possibly get worse in the County Elections Office. Sorry to burst your bubble, but today things did get worse.
If you visited or called the Elections Office today, Jan Wenaas may have greeted you with a friendly smile and twinkle in her eye. She’s happy to have infiltrated the Elections Office camp, working behind the scenes as a self-proclaimed volunteer for Sandra Merchant. So, why is that a problem?
First, Wenaas is the face of Cascade County’s far-right “Election Integrity” committee, those pesky election deniers who believe the 2020 election was stolen, despite nearly 60 lawsuits whose outcomes proved otherwise. Yes, Wenaas believes The Big Lie; the same lie that MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, has been spouting and several Montana legislators have bought into – Steve and Lola Galloway, and Steve Gist to name a few.
In fact, Wenaas was instrumental arranging the bogus dog-and-pony show last year bringing State Senator Theresa Manzella of Ravalli County and her entourage of election deniers to Great Falls, including some dude from Colorado who claims he witnessed first-hand election malfeasance in his state. Their presentation contended vote count machines results are intercepted by Venezuelans, and the election outcomes changed at the blink of an eye. Wait, what??
Finally, Wenaas signed onto a petition sent to then County Commissioners Briggs, Larson and Ryan calling for them to immediately do among other things, the following:
Ban mail-in ballots except for overseas military, disabled or other qualified persons
Ballot turn in on election day only, with one day counting
Clean voter roles by requiring all qualified county residents to re-register
OMG, why is a woman who clearly does not believe in the state’s voting process sitting in front of a county computer at a desk in the Elections Office? So what that she’s a volunteer. She has access to the county phones. Does she also have access to voter registrations? Is she going to be handling ballots – those horrible mail ballots she believes the county should discontinue? Why is a volunteer working in the sacred space of the Elections Office, anyway?
Shocked yet? If so, tell your county commissioners:
Don’t waste your time contacting Commissioner Rae Grulkowski, newly dubbed by many county citizens as Sandra Merchant’s handler. Probably not worth your time to question the Elections Office self-proclaimed protector. And what’s up with that?
Maybe let Eric Bryson, Executive Director of the Montana Association of Counties, know you are concerned at: [email protected] Next thing you know, Merchant will be telling us the vote counting machines don’t work, and everything needs to be hand counted. Stranger things have happened, or shall we say, are happening.
This flyer was distributed when Wenaas brought Manzella and the election denier crowd to Great Falls. Wenaas was one of the signers on this utterly insane petition circulated last year.
Merchant’s Election Plan Meeting shows insurmountable Incompetence.
Yesterday over 200 citizens attended a special meeting of the Cascade County Commission to hear Sandra Merchant’s election plan. The meeting started with Commissioner Rae Grulkowski acting as intellectual body guard for Merchant, and telling the audience only questions related to the presentation itself would be answered. Unfortunately for Grulkowski, Merchant wasn’t even capable of answering those questions.
Merchant’s powerpoint presentation read like a third grade book report, irrelevant images and bouncing text included. All it was missing was a star swipe. And, of course, an actual plan to hold the elections. But a plan was notably absent. Rather, Merchant proffered a list of excuses as to why she hasn’t prepared for the upcoming elections. She blamed redistricting, the closure of IPS, and harped on the possibility of a five hour trip to use a different business. (Note: A five hour trip is a regular occurrence for Montanans, and it doesn’t cost $40k+ to make that trip happen.)
Sprinkled into her excuses was overt anti-election sentiment. Instead of providing voters a timeline, costs, and transparency, Merchant used her time to present a list of why mail elections are bad and a “history” of school poll elections. Preventing mail elections is a popular voter-suppression method among election deniers like Merchant and Grukowlski.
Even more alarming than the pedestrian presentation, Merchant failed to answer even basic questions about the upcoming elections and her duties. Merchant would not answer simple “yes” or “no” questions, such as if the school and library elections would be mail elections. When pressed, Grulkowski continuously stepped in, tried to stop citizens from asking their questions, and allowed Merchant to sit virtually silent without providing a single direct answer.
Asked directly, multiple times, Merchant could not say how much poll elections would cost as compared to mail elections. She could not say if the library and school district would be responsible for those increased costs, or what the relevant contracts stated. Commissioner Briggs specifically asked about the increased number of election judges, and Merchant seemingly was not able to grasp the question whatsoever.
Essentially, the only information Merchant offered was that elections will take place on time. However, she provided no details as to how and at what cost. Voters asked in-depth, knowledgeable questions which deserve clear and transparent answers. Despite her opening statement about transparency, Merchant provided none.
After yesterday’s debacle, it is clear that Cascade County voters cannot trust Sandra Merchant.
It didn’t take long. Less than three months after taking office, Merchant’s inability, or unwillingness, to administer elections is already creating chaos in Cascade County. There has been good, comprehensive news coverage in both the Electric and the Daily Montanan of what has been going on.
Obviously, Sandra Merchant has gotten herself into a hot seat. So far her response has been to say the problems at her office are a variety of factors beyond her control. She says the closure of IPS (a mailing company) is responsible. Staff shortages are the problem. Finding a printing company willing to print ballots is the problem. That her refusal to send ballots for the Library levy was a misunderstanding. And on it goes.
What she does not say is that she and her political supporters are election deniers who are fundamentally opposed to mail ballots. They want everyone to vote at a polling place and have ballots counted by hand. She doesn’t mention that her first hire in the Clerk and Recorder’s office is straight out of the election denier crowd here in Cascade County. Nor does she talk about her affiliation with Rae Grulkowski, our newly-elected County Commissioner and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire.
Maybe it doesn’t matter whether the current mess at the Clerk and Recorder’s office is the result of incompetence or Merchant’s belief in election denier mythology. What matters is that people organize to make sure she can’t impose her beliefs on the rest of us by denying free and fair elections.
If you like free and fair elections, brace yourself. Cascade County is in trouble and as a voter, you need to be informed. Sandra Merchant, election denier and now County Clerk & Recorder refuses to do her job. She needs to be replaced and soon! Send an email to the following people today and tell them to “ImmediatelyREMOVE Sandra Merchant as Clerk and Recorder for not fulfilling the duties of her elected office.”
[email protected] – MT Association of Elected Officials Executive Director, Eric Bryson
Ask the folks at the Sun River School District who requested a mail ballot election for their board of trustees. Merchant recently informed them she cannot run their requested mail ballot election. Was Sun River School District late with their request? Heck no, school administrators met required timelines but Merchant sent a letter saying they would need to run a poll election instead. Her excuse? She claimed the recent closing of IPS, the county’s mailing service, prevents her from running a mail ballot election. In her letter to the School District it states she could not find another source to mail ballots.
Sound fishy? It is. In the last year, Merchant and her ilk have publicly derided the mail ballot process, emphasizing their bias for poll elections. So is this Merchant’s backhanded way of eliminating the mail ballot process in Cascade County? You decide.
Here’s some facts you should know:
There are five elections between now and June and possibly two more in the fall – Sun River and Great Falls Public School elections (May), West Great Falls Drainage District (May), Ft Shaw Irrigation election (May), Library levy special election (June). In autumn, the city commission/mayor primary (September) and general election for city commission and mayor election (November).
Over 85% of the county’s voters prefer and REQUEST mail ballots for elections.
Mail ballots are more convenient for voters AND more cost-effective. It takes hundreds of paid people to run a poll election and a handful to run a mail ballot election.
The Elections office must train and oversee these poll workers. Not sure Merchant knows her job, since word has it that her office called the Sun River School District and asked them who their election judges are. Doesn’t Sandra Merchant know it is HER JOB to get the election judges?
The burden for non-county elections is borne by the requesting entity, so a poll election costs the city, library, school districts, water districts, etc. considerably more than a mail ballot election.
The library has been notified that their levy may need to be run in autumn when the city will be running its public safety levy. No doubt both levies will fail if that happens.
Merchant has also claimed that the redistricting process is going to take time away from planning any mail ballot elections. That process does not start until July, so why the hold-up for these four spring elections?
IPS mailing services gave ample notice of their business closure. In very early February, Cascade County Commissioner, Joe Briggs, asked Merchant to research other mailing service so mail ballots could be done this spring. Had Merchant contacted Kalispell which has 50,000+ voters in the county, she might have found a solution. But hey, why look very hard when your objective is to eliminate mail ballot voting?
It’s common knowledge that Merchant does not trust the county’s reliable count machines to tabulate voter ballots. Are Merchant’s gymnastics to eliminate mail ballots just a precursor to hand-counting ballots in the future? Let’s hope not.
Sandra Merchant was elected as the new Cascade County Clerk and Recorder last November. In just a few short months, Merchant has rendered the department inoperable. According to multiple knowledgeable sources, Merchant hasn’t been completing such basic tasks as handling finances and even checking the mail. We’ll be getting a more detailed report together regarding Merchant’s utter failure to fulfill her multiple duties, but today we must address an urgent issue.
Sandra Merchant is not holding elections. At present, the people of Cascade County are being denied our right to vote in elections and on ballot issues. Great Falls is the third largest city in the state, and as of today we have no functioning Democracy.
Merchant has refused to hold a mail election for the Sun River School District. Her actions have left Sun River little time to put together a poll election, and its entirely possible the election won’t take place at all. The citizens of Sun River deserve access to free, fair, efficient, and transparent elections. Merchant’s inability and unwillingness to perform her duties is stripping Sun River residents of their rights.
Also on the chopping block is the special election for the library levy. The Commission voted to send the issue to the ballot on February 21st and notified Merchant on February 22nd. There is a provision that would allow Merchant to inform the city that she couldn’t conduct the election. Merchant had 5 days to put this refusal in writing- and she didn’t do this. Therefore, Merchant is knowingly ignoring city code.
Merchant is blaming the closure of Innovative Postal Services for her inability to conduct these elections. We’re not fooled by her attempts at diversion. The previous Clerk and Recorder has faced challenges similar to what Merchant is facing now. Barriers like redistricting, changing private sector business partnerships, and a lack of resources are nothing new. The only difference we’re now facing is that Sandra Merchant is in charge- and she doesn’t know how to do her job.
Sandra Merchant ran on a platform of election denial. She claimed that our elections process couldn’t be trusted- despite a total lack of evidence for her wild allegations. Now, Merchant is literally keeping us from voting. Her total ignorance of the election process is evidenced in her responses- which are a matter of public record—in which Merchant has asked to simply move or reschedule elections. That’s not how elections work, Sandra. They are not scheduled based on your preferences or what is most convenient for you.
Merchant does not have the authority to refuse to conduct or to reschedule an election. Although there are both government employees and elected officials (Looking at you, County Commission) that could be addressing this issue, they are not stepping up and getting this fixed.
So, dear readers, its up to us to defend our Democracy. It’s time for Sandra Merchant to resign.
Email Sandra Merchant and demand her immediate resignation. Copy the County Commission on your email as well. Remember that your email will become a public record, so conduct yourself accordingly.
