Primary opens Tuesday at 7 a.m.

The first round of this year’s election ends Tuesday with polling places opening for the primary election.

Most polling places in the state are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. People can contact their clerk and recorder or visit the “My Voter Page” section on the Montana Secretary of State’s website, http://sos.mt.gov/, to find the location of their polling place.

Many votes already have been cast, with the Hill County Clerk and Recorder’s office reporting that by Friday it had received 1,207 absentee ballots of the 1,907 issued this year.

Hill County has 7,496 active registered voters.

Aside from the federal elections — both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate races have contested Democratic and Republican primaries — few of the races in this area are contested.

In Hill County, Treasurer and Assessor Sandy Brown faces former Treasurer and Assessor Carrie Dickson in the Democratic primary. In Blaine County, Commissioner Delores Plumage faces Carlotta Benson in the Democratic primary for the commissioner race. No Republicans have filed in either of those races.

Two local legislative races have Republican primaries, with Rep. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, facing Chester farmer Carl Mattson in the race for Senate District 14 and Rep. Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady, facing Hingham farmer and aviator Darrold Hutchinson in the race for House District 14.

Voters in Havre, Chinook and Harlem will be asked if they want to establish a commission to review the form of government. Similar referendums will be held at the county level on the Hi-Line and throughout Montana.