Nearly 12K in Cascade Co., Time to Update Voter Rolls in Montana

If there's nearly 12,000 potentially out of date voter registrations in Cascade County, how many out of date registrations are there in the other 55 counties across Montana?

We caught up with Cascade County Elections Administrator Sandra Merchant on Tuesday morning. Her office recently sent out notices in compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

What is the NVRA and why are notices being sent out?

Merchant: This Act lets voters confirm if they have moved, asks them to update their registration, and tasks the election administrators with removing people who do not respond to confirmation mailings and subsequently fail to vote in two federal general elections. Elections officials within the United States are annually tasked with the responsibility of sending notice to voters who fit these criteria.

 

How many notices were sent out?

Merchant: Our county voter rolls, as reported by the Secretary of State, reveals 11,884 currently registered voters who fit these criteria. The office has sent the first required NVRA notice. If no response is received back to our office within 30 days a second NVRA notice will be issued. If no response is received back within another 30 days the voter will be inactivated as part of maintaining accurate voter registration lists.

 

For those who have been watching local politics in Great Falls and Cascade County, the Democrats used to have quite the stronghold in Great Falls- but now they got swept out of legislative seats. We talked with Merchant about what redistricting will look like in Great Falls and more.

Here's the full audio of our chat with Cascade County Elections Administrator Sandra Merchant (2nd half of below podcast audio):