The Daily Inter Lake

The Whitefish city-government election is under way with a couple of noteworthy elements:

It's the biggest slate of candidates in recent years and the city's first mail-in ballot for elected officials.

Seven candidates are running for three City Council seats while three candidates are seeking the mayor job.

The county election department mailed 3,746 ballots last week to all active registered voters in Whitefish city limits. Inactive voters - there are 444 on the county rolls - may activate their voting status until noon on Nov. 5 or on Nov. 6 until 8 p.m.

Ballots must be returned with a signed envelope by 8 p.m. on Nov. 6. They can be mailed in, dropped off at the county courthouse or taken to Whitefish City Hall.

Election supervisor Monica Eisenzimer said Whitefish's recent mail-in election for the City Beach bond issue was a good exercise for the election department in preparation for the general election.

It also was an opportunity to update mailing lists because more than 500 ballots sent out for the beach bond were returned as undeliverable, she said. Most of the returned ballots were from people who had moved out of the area since the last general election.

City Council candidates are Turner Askew, Ryan Friel, Mark McGlenn, Martin McGrew, John Muhlfeld, John Murdock, and Kent Taylor. Muhlfeld is the lone incumbent.

Competing in the three-way race for mayor are interim Mayor Cris Coughlin, former Mayor Mike Jenson and City Council member Nick Palmer.