GREAT FALLS — MTN News received a message from a Cascade County resident about an election ballot envelope he received in the mail.
The message stated:
Two questions for you guys. Got my Cascade County absentee ballot today and it’s marked blue? I am a registered democrat. Why is that? The word “incumbent” has also been removed. Used to say it always after the candidate. Why is it missing this election?
We contacted Terry Thompson, the Elections Administrator for Cascade County.
She replied that the blue marking on the flap has nothing to do with political parties or candidates. A different color is used for every election to identify which election the affirmation envelope belongs to.
Thompson gave several examples, noting that the primary election color was orange, the Great Falls Public Schools envelope featured green, and the Centerville school ballot envelope had gray.
Another example is that Lewis & Clark County is using a yellow line across the front of their envelope for the November election, and Yellowstone County is using red.
She also explained that the Elections Office receives ballots returned months after an election so it helps to identify them.
It also assists the Great Falls post office, which sorts ballots for 17 counties.
Thompson said the word “incumbent” wasn’t behind candidate names on the primary ballots either.
The context and format of the language on the ballots are provided to all 56 counties by the Montana Secretary of State.
