The Flathead County Republicans have requested that the county attorney check into the voting history of the Democratic candidate for county commissioner.
On Oct. 1, the Republican Party filed a request with the Flathead County Attorney’s Office, alleging illegal voting on the part of Stacey Schnebel and her husband, Seth.
Schnebel is running for the District 1 seat of the Flathead County Commission against Republican Phil Mitchell.
According to the cover letter from Flathead County Republican Chairman Jayson Peters, the party would like County Attorney Ed Corrigan to investigate the Schnebels’ voting records, because the couple lives in Coram but have voted in Whitefish municipal elections.
Schnebel and her husband moved to Whitefish in 2000, and lived there for seven years before settling in Coram.
Public voting records from the county election office show that Schnebel and her husband voted in Whitefish municipal elections after moving, including in 2009 and 2011.
Peters alleged such voting shows the Schnebels are guilty of a misdemeanor according to state law, and that state law also says someone who is found guilty of violating Montana’s election laws “must be removed from nomination or office.”
Schnebel said she believes many people in the Flathead would be familiar with moving and delaying updating all of their paperwork, though she asserted that the allegations from the Republican leadership are “political theater.”
She said she is not worried about this issue.
“I think I’m winning and I think that’s what got them concerned,” Schnebel said. “For a person who is conservative and doesn’t believe in litigation, (Mitchell’s) party is aiming to waste county resources on a non-issue.”
Schnebel also said the timing of these allegations is “interesting,” because it coincides with her October series of town hall meetings, where she has invited Mitchell to join and discuss issues despite his reticence to debate her, along with her written response to Mitchell’s letter to the editor asking Schnebel specific questions in the Flathead News Group newspapers.
“The timing of this is interesting in that it seems staged to overshadow the issues that I’ve raised in my response letter to Phil’s letter,” she said.
The Flathead County Attorney’s Office stated it received the information on Oct. 1, but Corrigan won’t have the chance to review it until he is back from a meeting in Billings.
Mail-in ballots will be sent out for the general election on Oct. 6, and the election is Nov. 4.