Northeast Montana News

An alleged oversight in Prairie County has left only one candidate on the ballot for the combined position of county clerk of District Court and clerk and recorder, and it's not the incumbent, despite her being the elections administrator for the county.

Shari Robertson was elected to the position two years ago, one which she believed had a four-year term. Robertson credits that misunderstanding with why she did not file for re-election.

“I wish that I would have noticed it because a lot of people lost the opportunity to file,” she said, according to the Montana Standard.

Her only option was to seek re-election as a write-in candidate. The one candidate who will appear on the ballot is also a former officeholder in that position.

Ruth Peck was appointed by the County Commission in 2017 after her predecessor resigned but lost the position to Robertson in the 2018 election.

But even Peck only got her filing in just under the wire, submitting it just three minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline. That was the first time, the Standard said, Robertson appeared to have realized her mistake.

"She got majorly upset," Peck told the paper.

Some have alleged Peck intentionally waited to file until the last minute in order to avoid tipping Robertson off. Peck, however, said she only decided to run at the last minute. After seeing there was no one on the ballot, she grew concerned the position would be left vacant.

In response to the situation, according to the report, the commissioners sought legal counsel on whether they could reopen filing since the public had not received proper legal notice that the position was up for election. Without that notice, other members of the public would not have known they could file, either. They sought advice from their own legal counsel and various entities, including the state, and concluded that they could open a limited filing window.

Peck alleged that the commissioners opted to reopen filing in order to favor Robertson.

“This is how hard they were working to try to keep her in office for their personal agenda,” Peck said, according to the Standard.

Yet, county commission chair Todd Devlin said part of their reasoning for reopening filing was because of confusion related to the 2018 ballot.

The county clerk of District Court and clerk and recorder position is a four-year term, but the 2018 election was for the remaining two years of an unexpired term. The person who would have been responsible for putting that fact on the ballot was Peck.

Yet, Peck said that the lack of notice on the ballot was not unusual for expired terms and that the length of the term had been noted both in newspaper articles and online, according to the outlet.

Since the commissioners extended the deadline, Robertson filed, then withdrew her filing to again run as a write-in candidate after Peck threatened a lawsuit.