HELENA – A high-profile race for a state Senate seat representing Billings has tightened to an eight-vote margin after a tally of provisional ballots.
Democratic Rep. Kendall Van Dyk now leads Republican incumbent Sen. Roy Brown by just eight votes.
The Yellowstone County Elections Office said Monday that Brown got 14 of the provisional ballots. Van Dyk got 6. That cut Van Dyk’s lead down from 16 votes to the single-digit margin.
Brown says he will ask for a re-count that likely won’t be completed until the first week of December. The margin is now small enough that the county will pick up the tab.
Brown says he is pleased he picked up so many of the provisional ballots. Van Dyk says every vote has now been counted and he maintains a lead that in all likelihood will stand through a re-count.