Hi-Line election races go down to the wire

Parties will select their candidates in hotly contested races for local, state and federal office during the primary election Tuesday.

Ballots already have been coming in to the clerk and recorder's offices around the state, with absentee already filling boxes, waiting to be counted Tuesday night.

Under state law, city elections can be conducted through a mail-in ballot.

However, county, state and federal Elections must be conducted at polling places. However, many people file for absentee ballots, including people listed on a permanent absentee list.

Of the 9,324 active, inactive and late-registered voters, 1,159 have selected to use absentee ballots. By this morning, Hill County voters had returned 953 of those.

The inactive voters, thosewho have not voted in a recent presidential election, could fill out a voter registration card at the polling places Tuesday and vote in the primary.

The polling places have changed over the years, with precincts eliminated and the polling places for others combined.

Voters can stop by or call the Hi l l Co u n t y Cl e r k a n d Recorder's Office at 265-5481, ext. 221, to find out in which precinct they reside and to confirm their polling place.

The primaries are all on the Democratic side in the Havrearea local and legislative level.

Republicans will select a candidate for District 1 on the state Public Service Commission and the candidate for Montana's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Democratic ballot also has the race for the U.S. House, which will select the candidate who will face the Republican winner.

The primary will set the stage in Havre-area races for the fall general election, with two county offices — commissioner and treasurer-assessor — having contenders in that election, and two of the three state House seats and the only state Senate seat in this region also having contests in the general election.

The winner of the Republican primary in the PSC contest also will face a Democratic opponent in the general election.