Voters in Kalispell and Columbia Falls go to the polls Tuesday as city elections get under way. Polling places open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
The city of Whitefish is conducting a mail-ballot election, and ballots that aren't mailed must be delivered by 8 p.m. Tuesday to Whitefish City Hall or to the Election Department at the main courthouse in Kalispell.
Kalispell voters in all four wards will cast their ballots at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Expo Building.
Columbia Falls residents will vote at Columbia Falls City Hall. On Election Day, the city of Whitefish will move its accessible-voting machine to the City Council conference room. The automated machine assists sight-impaired or disabled voters.
Voters need to bring identification. Acceptable forms of identification are driver's licenses, school district or post-secondary education photo IDs, tribal photo ID cards, Costco cards, voter confirmation cards, current utility bills, bank statements, paychecks or government documents that shows the voters' names and current addresses.
Kalispell and Whitefish have contested races.
In Kalispell, incumbent Mayor Pam Kennedy is being challenged by Kalispell attorney Tammi Fisher.
For Kalispell City Council positions, Jeffrey Zauner is challenging incumbent Hank Olson in Ward 2 and Marc Rold is challenging incumbent Jim Atkinson in Ward 3.
There are unopposed races in the other two wards, with incumbent Bob Hafferman the lone candidate in Ward 1 and incumbent Tim Kluesner in Ward 4.
Incumbent Kalispell Municipal Judge Heidi Ulbricht is unopposed in her bid for re-election.
Kalispell voters also will be asked to approve a new 20-year lease for Buffalo Hill Golf Course.
Whitefish has four candidates vying for three council seats: incumbent Frank Sweeney and challengers Chris Hyatt, Bill Kahle and Phil Mitchell.
Nick Palmer's name will appear on the ballot but he has withdrawn from the race.
Whitefish Municipal Court Judge Bradley F. Johnson is unopposed in his re-election bid.
In Columbia Falls, City Council member Don Barnhart is vacating his council seat to run for mayor. He is the lone mayoral candidate.
For Columbia Falls' three City Council vacancies, incumbents Mike Shepard and Dave Petersen are running for re-election and Shawn Bates has filed for the vacancy being left by Harvey Reikofski. Matt McConville's name will be on the City Council ballot, but he has withdrawn his candidacy.
Also included in Tuesday's election is the Kalispell Public Schools request for a $2.8 million elementary building-reserve levy and $4.1 million high school levy. The amounts are unchanged from the last building reserve levies that voters approved.
Voters in Kalispell's elementary district and West Valley School District residents who live inside the city limits vote at the fairgrounds. West Valley voters will vote on the high school ballot only.
Voters in other elementary districts that feed into Flathead or Glacier high school may vote on the high school levy at the following locations:
n From 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Evergreen Junior High School, Helena Flats School, Lakeside Elementary, Somers Middle School and West Valley School.
n From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Smith Valley School.
n From noon to 8 p.m. at Cayuse Prairie School, Creston School, Deer Park School, Fair-Mont-Egan School, Kila School, Marion Fire Hall, Olney-Bissell School and Pleasant Valley School.
ABSENTEE voting has been under way in all three cities and Kalispell Public Schools.
The County Election Department sent 3,115 absentee ballots to Kalispell city voters and voters who are in the school district but live outside the city. As of Thursday morning, 1,339 city ballots and 575 school district ballots had been returned. Kalispell has 10,860 registered active voters.
A total of 342 Columbia Falls voters had requested absentee ballots as of Thursday, and 167 were returned. Columbia Falls has 2,369 registered active voters.
In Whitefish, 4,154 ballots were mailed, which included a couple of replacement ballots. The city has 4,152 registered active voters. So far, 1,441 ballots have been returned, Election Manager Monica Eisenzimer said.
For more voting information, call the Election Department at 758-5535 or go to the Web site http://flathead.mt.gov/election.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com
Roark
Give Mayor Kennedy her walking papers and vote down all levies. If you want freedom and more of your own money and decision making than you need to stop voting for tax increases and big government politicians like Mayor Kennedy.
staceyf
Kalispell Voters! The golf course lease is up for renewal. This is on the ballot and you need to pay attention to the details. The lease pretty much restricts all uses on the golf course. The original lease required the golf course management to open the course to multi use, such as jogging and walking during non-golf summer hours. The new lease does not allow this. This is not what the city of Kalispell agreed to, and neither should the voters. VOTE NO ON THE LEASE RENEWAL.