Bullock and Gianforte to go head-to-head in October; Leland and Skinner will vie for seat on Gallatin County Commission
EBS STAFF
BIG SKY – Although election results are officially unofficial, many local, state and federal primary races in Montana were decided by relatively large margins—a somewhat unsurprising outcome given the number of incumbents running in state and local elections.
Voter turnout for the 2016 primary election is an estimated 44.7 percent, which is just shy of the 2008 primary election turnout of 45.2 percent during the last open presidential election, according to a press release received by EBS from Secretary of State and Chief Elections Officer Linda McCulloch.
According to the release, all counties have reported their totals, but election results remain unofficial until after the county and state canvasses are complete. Provisional ballot totals will be available early next week.
While unofficial results indicate that a state recount is unlikely, according to McCulloch’s release, it’s possible there may be recounts in local races. If a race falls below the one-half of 1 percent margin of difference, the defeated candidate may request a recount by petitioning the applicable filing officer.
Despite a close race for the Madison County Commission District 1 seat, it does not appear that any Gallatin or Madison county races will fall within that margin.
Here are the results of select local, state and federal primaries as of EBS press time at 5 p.m. on June 8:
Gallatin County: County Commissioner, District 2
D-Brian Leland: 70%
D-Storm Shirley: 29%
Republican incumbent Joe Skinner was uncontested.
Madison County: County Commissioner, District 1
Non-partisan Daniel W. Allhands: 41%
Non-partisan incumbent David Schulz: 39%
Non-partisan Ellis Thompson: 18%
State: Governor and Lt. Governor
D-Incumbent Steve Bullock and Mike Cooney: 91%
D-Bill McChesney and Mike Anderson: 8%
R-Greg Gianforte and Lesley Robinson: 76%
R-Terry Nelson and Niki Sardot: 23%
Supreme Court Justice #3
(non-partisan) Kristen Juras: 44%
(non-partisan) Dirk Sandefur: 34%
(non-Partisan) Eric Mills: 21%
Mike McGrath, a non-partisan candidate for Supreme Court Chief Justice, was uncontested.
Federal: President
D-Bernie Sanders: 51%
D-Hillary Clinton: 44%
No Preference: 4%
R-Donald Trump: 73%
R-Ted Cruz: 9%
R-John R. Kasich: 6%
No preference: 4%
R-Marco Rubio: 3%
R-Jeb Bush: 2 %
U.S Representative
Democrat Denise Juneau and Republican incumbent Ryan Zinke were uncontested in their races.
Additional, up-to-date results for the June primaries, including the outcomes of all Montana State Legislator races, can be found at mtelections.gov
