Voters in the state of Montana may not be able to vote in their state’s presidential primary contest to be held on Tuesday June 7^th and this may play a critical role in helping to determine whether each party will have nominated a candidate before the party conventions this summer (although it is more likely for the Democrats to have nominated a nominee then the Republicans because of Superdelegates.). The reason behind the possible confusion that might force thousands to not be able to vote, is the sending out of school voting ballots the same time when voters are expecting the mail ballots for the primary elections.

“That’s one of the problems with our hybrid election system in Montana” Yellowstone County elections officer, Brett Rutherford said regarding the issue.

According to the Billings Gazette, voters who receive a school ballot in the mail are also expecting to get the primary ballot but that may not be the case for voters in both parties as the state moves closer to Election Day. “Right now 43,000 people have applied for absentee ballots and we’re still processing those.” Mr. Rutherford continued in his statement. “We might have about 45,000 in the next week and that’s a drop because before we were having around 53,000 or 54,000”.

The confusion may prove to be critical to the nomination process for both parties as the process has seen neither party’s potential “favorite or front runner” has been able to lock up the nomination.

Hillary Clinton who is the Democratic Party front runner has locked up 1,758 delegates and has 469 super delegates. 2,383 are needed for the nomination. Republican front-runner, Donald Trump has 744 delegates, with his nearest challenger, Texas senator Ted Cruz having 559. 1,237 are needed for the Republican nomination.

“Trump’s shortfall in Wisconsin leaves it pretty tough for him to get a majority of the delegates” associate editor, Geoffrey Skelley, of Larry Sabato’s crystal ball said. Mr. Sabato is a professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

Mr. Trump lost the Wisconsin Primary contest by 13% points and earned only 6 of the possible 42 delegates. Mr. Cruz won 36 delegates. 27 delegates are available for both parties potential winner. Additionally, California, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota all vote on the same day as Montana ( so you can label this day “ Super Tuesday 3”.).

On the opposing Democratic side, Senator Sanders has won the last 7 contest starting with Utah on March 23^rd and ending with the last contest in Alaska on March 26^th. “I think Sanders is going to take the race all the way to the convention” Mr. Skelley said of the Democrat contest.

If history can be a guide for us, (coupled with the all-important momentum factor in politics) than Mrs. Clinton can expect a bad result as she lost the state to then Senator Obama who got 56.6% of the vote compared to Mrs. Clinton’s 41.05%.

In the end, the state of Montana should come up with a system where voters will have an easier time in determining what ballots are used for the Presidential caucus process and what ballots are used for school elections so that way voters can easily due their civic duty.

Links to sources:

1.  Billings Gazette Link:  https://billingsgazette.com/news/thousands-of-voters-will-miss-presidential-primary-because-of-election/article_57a86e8e-7789-5679-99d5-b0798f26e11a.html
2. USA Today Election Result Link: https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/elections-results-primaries-2016/#d
3. Missoula Independent Democrat Preview Link: https://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/IndyBlog/archives/2016/04/12/clinton-vs-sanders-rolls-toward-montana
4. Missoula Independent Republican Preview Link: https://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/IndyBlog/archives/2016/04/11/presidential-race-to-return-to-montana