Lincoln County voters still in the process of voting or headed to the polls for next week’s Nov. 3 general election have plenty of important choices to make.

According to county Administrator Matt Williams, who is also acting as the Election Administrator, 9,155 absentee ballots were mailed Oct. 9 and as of Oct. 28, 4,071 were returned.

Voters in the City of Libby (Precinct 9) will see the City Government Review question on the charter amendments. Their ballot is printed on both sides.

Specifically, those living in Libby city limits will vote on in the Nov. 3 general election is whether to change the city charter.

The Local Government Study Commission in Libby, consisting of D.C. Orr, John Bebee and Vince Backen, recommended several changes to the charter.

The amendments would permit partisan elections for council and mayor, separate legislative and executive functions by having a council chairman conduct city council meetings while the mavor attends and participates but does not direct them.

It would also remove the mayor's authority to decide tie votes, require four affirmative council votes for resolutions, ordinances, appointments and veto overrides.

Finally, it would establish a legal officer of the city, who may be called the City Attorney, and establish a Transparency and Accountability Committee to review complaints of ethics violations and mismanagement by city officials and employees.

Also, regarding the Lincoln County Local Government Study Commission, all county voters will choose between two statements, Williams said. One is “for adoption of the Commission Form of county government proposed for Lincoln County by the Lincoln County Study Commission.” The other is “for retaining the existing Elected County Officials Form of Government.” 

Because the current form is the statutory basis for the Commission Form, adoption of this recommendation would not result in changes to the day-to-day structure or operation of county government. County offices, elected officials and administrative functions would continue to operate as they do now. 

Instead, the recommendation is intended to modernize the county's statutory form of government and provide future study commissions with greater flexibility to evaluate and recommend changes to specific governance options, as authorized under Montana law. 

These changes can include options such as non-partisan county elections, shorter commissioner term lengths, and in-district rather than at-large voting for county representation, among others. Any recommended change, however, must be approved by voters for adoption.  

The Final Report is available to the public and serves as the official record of the Commission's work. Residents are encouraged to review the report to better understand the research, public input, findings and rationale behind the Commission's recommendation.

The report is online at lincolncountymt.gov.

At the county level, the only contested race is for county sheriff with Libertarian candidate Ian Smith facing Republican incumbent Darren Short.

Also, they are a handful of uncontested races. They include District 1 Commissioner where Stu Crismore is the only one on the ballot. He bested Brent Teske in the June primary. Others include Crystal Denton for Clerk and Recorder, Roger “Craig” Riddle for Coroner, Marcia Boris for county Attorney, Suzy Rios for county Superintendent of Schools, Amanda Eckart for Public Administrator and Sedaris Carlberg for Treasurer.

Jay Sheffield appears as a retention question and voters mark yes or no on whether he should be retained in office for another term. His name remains on the ballot even though he has announced he is stepping down.

Deputy county attorney Jeff Zwang was selected Wednesday by the county commissioners to take Sheffield’s place.

At the federal level, Independent Seth Bodnar, Republican Kurt Alme, Libertarian Kyle Austin and Democrat Alani Bankhead are vying for the U.S. Senator seat. It opened up when Sen. Steve Daines announced earlier this year he would not seek re-election.

The same is true for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in the 1st Congressional District after Ryan Zinke also decided not to run.

Battling to replace him are Republican Aaron Flint, Democrat Sam Forstag and Libertarian Nick Sheedy.

Another big race is for the Montana Supreme Court where Amy Eddy opposes Dan Wilson, both district judges in Flathead County.

At the state level, voters will pick a senator and a representative for District 1. 

For senator, Democrat Jonathan Russell Jameson opposes Republican Steve Gunderson.

Voters in four Libby precincts (City of Libby 9, Libby East 11, Libby South 12 and Libby West 13) are in House District 2, where Republican Tom Millett faces Democrat Jane Maahs.

For representative, voters in the other 12 precincts will choose between Republican Michelle Bianco is up against Democrat Dakota V. Adams. 

Finally, there are two Constitutional Initiatives and one proposed law by initiative petition on the ballot.

CI-133, an initiative to protect the initiative process itself. Roughly 18 states allow citizens to amend their constitutions by initiative. 

A constitutional initiative is a process where citizens can propose changes to their state’s constitution or state law through a petition. 

CI-132 is a measure that would amend the Montana Constitution to require that judicial elections remain nonpartisan.

Finally, there is Initiative 194, also known as the Montana Plan.

According to information on the Montana Secretary of State’s website https://sosmt.gov/elections/vip/, the argument for supporting I-194 would mean corporations, associations, unions would no longer have the ability to support or oppose candidates and ballot issues in the state.

The 2024 presidential election year saw a total of $14.8 billion spent on federal campaigns: $9.5 billion on congressional races and $5.3 billion on the presidential race. 

In contrast, the entire general fund budget for the state of Montana in 2026 was $3.5 billion, less than a quarter of the amount of money spent on federal campaigns. That amount of money alone makes it critically important to understand where that money is coming from and who is bankrolling campaigns.

Money spent to influence the decision of a voter without being required to disclose the original donor is referred to as “dark money.” The source is often concealed from the public - but not the politicians.

Those against I-194 say it’s a misguided, poorly drafted, authoritarian attempt to unconstitutionally restrict Montanans’ free speech rights under the guise of targeting spending in elections—even though there isn’t a single example provided of corporate election spending but examples abound of PAC and dark money spending that would continue to be allowed under the proposed initiative.

Opponents say federal courts have already struck down twice similar laws as unconstitutional restrictions on free speech and the result would be the same in this instance.