More than 200 ballots were rejected in Flathead County’s special district elections for lack of a birth year on the affirmation envelope, a “disheartening” statistic for Elections Administrator Paula Buff.

A state law requiring voters to include their birth year — along with their signature — on the affirmation envelope went into effect last October, just in time for the fall municipal elections.  

In Flathead County, more than 30,000 voters turned out for the 2025 municipal elections, and 197 of those ballots were rejected due to a missing birth year. The special district and school levy election in May saw a fraction of that turnout, with under 19,000 ballots cast in the election.  

But the number of ballots rejected for lacking a birth year on the envelope rose to 243. Another 83 lacked both a signature and a birth year. 

“I would definitely like to see that number decline a lot, especially given the amount of voter turnout we had,” Buff told Flathead County commissioners on Tuesday. 

Her office reminded voters of the new birth year requirement, she said. Elections staff even called voters who received an absentee ballot as an added precaution. 

Originally, 650 ballots were slated for rejection due to lack of a birth year, but many of those voters came in to fix the error.  

Buff worries about the voters who drop their ballots off on Election Day and potentially miss the statutorily required information.  

“By the time we go through to do all the signature verification ... you’ve got until 5 o’clock the next day to resolve it,” Buff said.  

The number of late ballots also increased significantly, compared to last year’s special district election. Elections staff counted 404 election ballots received after the deadline, a 353% increase from the 89 ballots that arrived late in 2025.  

Buff also found that troubling, since the 2025 election garnered 45% of eligible voter turnout, and only 29.9% of eligible voters cast their ballot this year. 

“It’s a little disheartening,” Buff said. “Because in an election like this, where your margins are so narrow, they could make or break a lot of things.” 

In the race for a trustee spot in Kalispell Public Schools’ high school district, candidate Sheri Hand lost to candidate Rich Terrett by 19 votes, according to unofficial results from the Elections Department. A land acquisition proposition for Helena Flats District No. 15 scraped by with four votes, and a levy for Helena Flats School failed by 64 votes, according to unofficial results.  

Out of 18,734 ballots that were accepted in the election, 428 ballots came from Lake County and 6 were cast by non-Montana residents who own land within a special district.* Lake County participated in a joint county election for trustees in the Bigfork Fire District and Bigfork Elementary School. Out of the 18,300 accepted ballots from Flathead County, one was rejected because it was for the Flathead Electric Cooperative election.  

In Flathead County, an additional 109 ballots were rejected due to mismatched signatures, or lack thereof, and 1,243 ballots were returned as undeliverable. 

In Lake County, 428 ballots were accepted, and 17 were rejected for missing year of birth, signature mismatch or lack of signature on the envelope. Another 66 ballots were returned as undeliverable.  

Report for America Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 406-758-4439 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

*This story has been corrected.