KALISPELL — A Kalispell City Council member has joined in a lawsuit that could potentially see the city's municipal election redone after ballots were distributed to incorrect ward boundaries.
Ward 3 City Councilor Ryan Hunter has joined as an intervenor in the suit filed by the Flathead County Election Administrator on December 1, 2023.
MTN News previously reported that incorrect ward boundaries in the November 7, 2023, election affected 8% of eligible voters and of that 8%, 176 voters cast incorrect ballots.
Hunter believes the incorrect boundaries could affect the outcome of Ward 1 and Ward 2, but not for Ward 3 or Ward 4. Ward 4 was an uncontested race.
According to the Flathead County Elections Department results, Hunter won the Ward 3 election by 72%, or 372 votes. Only 64 votes that were cast could have affected Ward 3 results.
Hunter's concern is it will cost candidates and taxpayers a lot of money to redo the election for all wards. He is also concerned that voter turnout will be lower than average due to confused voters.
“I'm going to have to raise more money. I'm going to have to knock on more doors, I'm going to have to organize volunteers and rerun the whole election, all for a race that has been redone due to a mistake that could not have affected the outcome of my race. And so it didn't make sense. And it costs taxpayer dollars to rerun that race again for a mistake that has no impact on the outcome of that race. So it just doesn't make sense for Wards 3 and 4 to redo those races." - Kalispell City Council Ward 3 representative Ryan Hunter
It is still unclear when this case will be seen by a judge. If a judge does make a ruling on the case, it must be at least 60 days after the ruling before the election can be redone.
For now, all councilors elected in the November election will be taking their seats on the Kalispell City Council.
