A snag in tallying ballots of one precinct has deferred the conclusion of a recount in Missoula County’s Senate District 49 race until Monday.
County commissioners Bill Carey, Jean Curtiss and Michele Landquist headed teams that counted more than 8,000 ballots from eight precincts on Friday at the county records center to decide whether Democrat Diane Sands’ 31-vote lead over Republican Dick Haines would hold up.
“In one of our precincts the numbers aren’t totaling up correctly, so we just want to double-check our work and recount that precinct on Monday,” county elections administrator Rebecca Connors said.
Connors said her “No. 1 theory” was that human error came into play when the ballots were prepped for the recount.
The recount process began Thursday afternoon, resumed Friday at 8:30 a.m. and adjourned at 5:15 p.m. after a 30-minute lunch break. The final tallying will begin at 1:30 p.m. Monday. The commissioners had an open schedule in the afternoon after their usual Monday morning meeting with Community and Planning Services from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m.
The Sands-Haines senate contest is the only legislative race in the state yet to be decided. Sands led with 3,933 votes to Haines' 3,902 after county and state canvasses. Haines posted a recount bond of $2,637 on Monday to cover the county's estimated costs of the recount.
