Happy Election Day, Beacon readers! Mariah Thomas here this Tuesday, anxiously awaiting the close of polls and the beginning of results rolling in … but first, everyone has to actually get to the polls today. If you’re reading this now, don’t worry! From the time this newsletter hit your inbox at roughly 3 p.m., you’ve got five more hours to make sure your voice gets heard in this midterm election.

Remember: if you need to cast a ballot, you need to be in line at your polling place by 8 p.m. to do so. (You can check yours by visiting votemt.gov.)  If you need to register to vote, you can still do that too, as long as you’re in line to do it before 8 p.m. And if you need to know more about the candidates and issues on your ballot, we’ve got you covered with our election guide here at the Beacon.

Now that logistics are out of the way, it’s time for my favorite part of Election Day coverage: the color from polling places and the county elections office as people flock there to cast their ballots.

As of 10:30 a.m., the county elections office had begun tabulating mail-in ballots it received ahead of Election Day, with 14,479 counted by that point. Flathead County voters returned 37,024 absentee ballots out of a total of 54,767 sent out by 2 p.m. on Election Day for a return rate of 67.6%, according to the Secretary of State’s website. That number doesn’t include those voting in person, nor those who will return absentee ballots this afternoon.

The counting process, which is open for the public to watch, consists of elections office employees placing ballots into the machine (pictured above). In the morning, when this reporter was watching, it was a machine dubbed “Wildcat.” The office has four machines, each named after a local high school: Glacier, Flathead, Wildcat and Bulldog.

Then, the machine sorts ballots into bins labeled “processed,” “write ins” and “not processed.” Throughout the process, county Clerk and Recorder Debbie Pierson explained, there are several points where internal auditing happens to keep the count accurate.

Downstairs from the small room on the second floor where ballot counting was taking place, a line of voters receiving their ballot or registering formed. Outside the building, those who had absentee ballots to drop could place them in a drop box. And Forward Montana Foundation’s local organizer, Bella Brown, had a table set up with snacks and gear as she helped people register to vote, including 18-year-olds Rowan Wisher and Jayten Erickson.

Wisher and Erickson, both seniors at Flathead High School, told me they left school after their government class to turn in their voter registration and vote for the first time.

“It’s cool to be 18 and to be able to vote,” Erickson said.

“Friends who vote together, stay together,” Brown said with a smile.

Meanwhile, at the fairgrounds across town, voters also emphasized the importance of their participation.

Garry and Lela Toavs, a couple who came to the fairgrounds to cast their ballots, said they hadn’t missed an election since they turned 18. Garry, 82, said voting was “the only thing to do” on Tuesday. And Lela added it’s important to “be able to make our voices known, and to keep doing that as long as we can.”

Tim Klug, a retired voter who came to his polling place with his wife and dog Buck in tow, also said he viewed voting as a “right and obligation,” and takes pride voting in every election. Klug described himself as an issues-focused voter, rather than one concerned with specific candidates. The retiree is anti-abortion and anti-lawlessness and cited Montana’s passage of Constitutional Initiative 128 in 2024 (which enshrined abortion into the state’s constitution), along with “attacks” on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as issues that drove him to the polls this year. Klug joked that Buck, his dog, was a Republican.

And Nick Walborn, a parts manager for Clark Nissan, came to cast his ballot while on his lunch break. He said he’s been turned off by politics this year but feels strongly that participating is important.

“I’ve always seen it as and been raised like if you don’t vote, you don’t have a right to complain,” Walborn said.

The Toavses, Klug and Walborn were greeted at the fairgrounds’ entrance by a host of people waving campaign signs — including several local legislative candidates and candidate for the U.S. House Aaron Flint. Flint (pictured above), who was standing alongside Jim Riley, a candidate running for House District 6, said he had been greeting voters since 6:45 a.m., 15 minutes before polls opened this morning. (The veteran and former radio talk show host told me his usual wake-up time to get on-air used to be 4 a.m., so believe it or not, the 6:45 call time was him sleeping in!)

The Republican, who’s in a tight race for the western district against Democrat Sam Forstag, said he feels good this Election Day, and ultimately thinks the race will come down to a question of turnout. Riley, the Republican running for House District 6, agreed, adding he thought the recent Kalispell rally featuring President Donald Trump served as a factor driving people to the polls.

Several people held signs for Flint and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Alme on the busy street corner, including Trey Kinamon, the president of the University of Montana’s Turning Point USA chapter. Kinamon, a junior studying communications in Missoula, said he liked that Flint had served the country and was focused on Montana and Montana issues. In Kinamon’s view, young people have had a lot “jammed down their throats” in recent years. He named off mask mandates during COVID and “boys in girls’ bathrooms” as examples. The junior said young people are tired of it, and what’s more important to those in his generation is making Montana affordable again.

“Aaron’s the candidate fighting to do that,” Kinamon said.

A slew of Flathead Democrats were also out in force Tuesday morning, including some local legislative candidates: Madison Evans, running for House District 7; Calvin Lime, who’s in a race for House District 8; and Catherine Allen, the Democratic candidate in House District 10. Some held their own signs, while others had signs proclaiming support for Democrat Alani Bankhead, who’s running for the U.S. Senate.

Lime, Allen and Evans all said they looked forward to seeing how their races turned out and, regardless of outcome, viewed it as important that they competed in the red Flathead Valley. For Lime, one of the highlights of the election cycle has been seeing so many everyday Montanans step up to run for office, and he hopes their candidacies have paved the way for people to feel like they can do so in the future as well.

Allen, a stay-at-home mom running in a bright red local legislative district, said she’d been out on the street corner since 8:45 a.m. and viewed it as the “best use of [her] time today.” While many held Flint signs, she said she hoped being out there as a Democrat offered a morale boost to those who might lean a similar way as they headed for the polls. And more than anything, she said she was filled with hope by the possibilities Election Day held.

“It’s been eight months of hard work, very hard work, and it’s nice to have it culminate in a sunny day of camaraderie and hopeful spirit,” Allen said.

And … that’s what I’ve got for you all on this sunny Election Day. Here’s hoping you’ve either already cast your ballot or find some time to get down to your polling place this evening if you haven’t!

Be sure to check back with us later this evening and into tomorrow as results start rolling in. We’ll have Beacon reporters focused on the U.S. Senate and House races, the Montana Supreme Court race, the competitive north valley legislative districts and the race for Flathead County commissioner. See you all on the other side of the election, and thanks for following along with us this season.

Over and out! Onto the rest of the Daily Roundup.