Secretary of State Confirms Montana Vote Count, Moves Up State-Wide Canvass

Today, November 18, Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch validated the vote totals garnered in the 2014 Elections after seeing the results of a county-by-county audit.

"Counties conducted a post election audit of the vote counting machines, the voting tabulators, and showed no signs of inaccurate tabulations," explained Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch. "Every county subject to the audit had to hand count one federal race, one statewide race, and one state-wide ballot issue for the precincts that were selected and some counties had to hand count a state legislative race."

This extra audit is different from the statewide canvass, and is something Montana has only done for a short time.

"This post-Election audit act was passed in the 2009 legislature, it was kind of a collaborative agreement between the Secretary of State's office, the Montana Association of Clerks and Recorders, and the league of women voters," McCulloch said.

The statewide canvass is due by December first, but McCulloch decided to move it up to November 25 in order to ensure that any potential recounts could be finished before Christmas.