MISSOULA — Incumbent Sandra Vasecka will be remaining on the Missoula City Council following a Monday evening vote.
What originally separated the the Ward 6 Missoula City Council race by only five votes turned into a tie after a recount which led to the decision by the Council.
Mike Nugent — who was in a similar situation after the late Mayor John Engen passed away — explained why he switched his vote in the fourth round of voting.
“Democracy is not easy and the voters tied, and then council tied three times you know what I said in my comments so I think that both candidates brought different things to the table end of the day we need to make a decision somebody needed to be willing to acknowledge that they weren’t going to get their way and be part of helping us move forward and that’s my role council right now I’m fine doing that,” Nugent said.
Nugent who was once a part of an appointment process said that continuing a tied vote wouldn’t help moving forward.
“I just don’t think going multiple rounds with the same vote over and over again is going to get us anywhere. I know there are big differences between the two candidates. I know there will be people that are disappointed but I also know there are people that are happy and sometimes that’s the way it goes,” Nugent said.
Nugent says that voting does matter in local elections, "I think it’s to vote to get out to be involved and you’ll never think your vote doesn’t matter because there’s two candidates who would tell you different right now."
Vasecka who will now keep her seat until the general election in 2025 says that the switched vote was not an expected one.
“Did not see that one coming. I mean after the mayoral appointment — I honestly didn’t deserve that from Mike, so I really happy that I get to continue to work with him and everybody else. And I mean I didn’t know how it’s going to go. When I was tallying votes in my head with my husband I saw like six versus six," Vasecka said. "Kind of shocked me ... everyone said really nice words and what a turn of events. I’m still in shock."
During the almost four-and-a-half-hour meeting, the appointment was at the end of the meeting agenda, Vasecka still on City Council explains her emotions throughout the night.
“My stomach was in knots the entire meeting. it was very uncomfortable, especially because I was uncomfortable with the coin toss and I told my colleagues that I was uncomfortable with a coin, even though I did not think that I had the majority of their vote so when I did win ... I’m still in shock from it,” Vasecka said.
Vasecka has a message to the voters of Ward 6.
“Everyone who says that I'm not going to vote because it doesn’t matter well turns out it does because that would have saved a lot of I wouldn’t say excruciating, but a really tough decision for everybody. The election was almost a month ago and then it changed. I lost by five votes. There was the recount and then there was almost a flip of the coin that was and then. Now it was appointment by Council. I know that rules and the laws were on the books — at least we had some rules to adhere to. But no one ever really saw this coming. It’s going to be a good reason to go back and kind of look how the process was and kind of tweak [it] to make it better. because it was such a long and tedious process. Sean and I were in limbo for a month. I know it was very uncomfortable for my colleagues to choose either Sean or I. I really respect them for making that hard decision, especially on the record. I thank everyone — and no hard feelings to the ones against me — who voted against me. I understand where they were coming from and like I said, kind of shocked me I’m really happy. So my message to Ward Six is your vote really does matter. Thank you all for coming out in droves this time because four years ago. It wasn’t that big of a turnout as much of it was this time, so hopefully in two more years, it will be an even bigger turnout. Everybody, please vote,” Sandra Vasecka
For now, Vasecka says that it’s been a month of sleepless stressful nights which has now come to an end.
“I'm finally going to some sleep I’ve been stressed out for the past month so it’s going to take a couple of days to stress but I’m very excited to finally be able to sleep at night,” Vasecka said.
It was a clear message by all the city council tonight and I was to vote your vote truly matters.
