BUTTE – A non-partisan organization that provides voters with factual information about politicians plans to leave its ranch in Montana after the November election.
Project Vote Smart, which has operated from a 150-acre ranch near Philipsburg for 16 years, announced plans to move in a summer quarterly newspaper, The Montana Standard reported Saturday.
The ranch is more than 100 miles from the nearest airport.
Vote Smart’s team of 20 employees and about 40 interns tracks election data and politicians’ voting records. The organization’s Interim National Director, Walter McKusick, said moving to a city could help Vote Smart recruit more fall and winter interns and give the workers better access to resources.
The company put its Great Divide Ranch up for sale more than a year ago with a $4.1 million asking price. The property includes its main research facility, two bunkhouses and three guest cabins. The organization had also tried to sell the ranch in 2014.
McKusick said he doesn’t anticipate any layoffs and said all employees will receive offers to accompany the organization wherever it moves.