Update November 12
The final resolved rejected ballots from the November 4 election have been counted and Mike Nelson retained his lead over Jennifer Owen by 177 votes and will be the new mayor of Billings.
Owen conceded on her Facebook page on Monday. She said she had called Nelson and wished him well as he takes office with the new council members in January.
Just over 30,000 votes were cast and in the four way race Nelson received 38.90% of the vote to 38.31% for Owen, Mike Boyette with 15.81%and Amanda Housler 6.33%. The vote differential between Nelson and Owen is greater than the ¼ of 1% that would trigger an automatic recount.
Final canvas of the vote will take place on Nov.18.
Orignal reporting Nov 5
Mike Nelson is Billings’ new mayor according to the unofficial tally of Tuesday’s election in Yellowstone County.
The Billings hotelier garnered 39.10% of the vote in the four person race to succeed outgoing mayor Bill Cole. Just behind Nelson in the voting is City Councilwoman Jennier Owen with nearly 38.48 %, deputy mayor Mike Boyett at 15.89 % and Amanda Housler at 6.36%.
Winners in the 6 council wards: Ward 1 Mark Nicholson 61.56%, David Redmon 37.92%; Ward 2 Denis Pitman 42.87%, Kassi Strong 41.13%, Earnest Hammer 15.76%; Ward 3 Amy Aguirre 57.08%, incumbent TJ Rogers 42.49% ; Ward 4 Andrew Lindley 54.18% , incumbent Daviel Tidswell 45.54% ; Ward 5 Tony O’Donnell 59.36%, Patrick Olp 42.23%. All the winners are new members to city council.
Judge Sheila Kolar won another term as Billings Municipal Judge. Kolar ran unopposed and received 97% of the vote.
In Laurel, the unofficial vote total has Dave Waggoner with 50.86 % of the vote, winning another term as Laurel Mayor over Council President Heidi Sparks with 48.82% of the vote.
Laurel City Council Member Michelle Mize won election as city judge with 97.74% of the vote. Mize ran unopposed.
Winners in the Laurel City Council Ward Races: Ward 1 Sara Naylor 63.33%, Larry McPhail 36.25%; Ward 2 Brent Edgmond 98.13%; Ward 3 incumbent Irv Wilke 96.93%; Ward 4 incombent Richard A. Klose Sr. 96.75%.
Yellowstone County Election Administrator Dayna Causby says as of Tuesday night/Wednesday morning some 706 ballots had been rejected because of missing birth year or mismatched signature. The voters had until 5pm Wednesday, Nov. 5, to come to the election office and fix the mistake and make their ballot count.
Causby says a final unofficial count will not be completed until Monday, Nov. 10. The official canvas of the vote will take place on Tuesday morning Nov. 18th.
Unofficial results from this all mail election has voter turnout in Yellowstone County at 46.39%. Causby said typically that turnout is 50 %.
