The Montana State Primary elections went off without a hitch this week, and according to Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, there was better turnout than expected.

“41 percent was the turnout, which was higher that we had projected,” Stapleton said. “I projected between 36 and 38 percent based on what we saw. It is always a little difficult to get that last week in. On Monday and Tuesday you get a flood of absentee ballots coming in that you have not really been able to project.”

There were some extremely close local races though and Stapleton says we are likely to see recounts.

“I think we have four or five recounts yet to see at varying levels, including over in Bozeman,” Stapleton said. “There are two people running to be the elections clerk there. I believe we had a tie in the office for two candidates running to be the clerk, whose job is to oversee recounts of ties in elections.”

Right now, Republican Greg Metzger and Republican Laura Werley are both vying to be the County Clerk and Recorder for Gallatin County, The extremely unlikely result of that primary race has them locked at 50 percent of the vote each. Both candidates have had exactly 4,965 votes cast in their favor.

Photo Courtesy of Montana Secretary of State
Photo Courtesy of Montana Secretary of State
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