Commissioners respond to email from Secretary of State's Office regarding elections administrator

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - In December of 2023, Cascade County Commissioners voted to remove election duties from the Clerk and Recorder's office after citing months of complaints, lawsuits, and election issues.

In February 2024, they chose Terry Thompson as the new Elections Administrator. 

But before they made their decision, on February 14, they got an email from Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen. 

"This email showed up with the secretary of state's letterhead advising us on how she thought we should vote," said James Larson, a Cascade County Commissioner. 

In February, county commissioners interviewed four candidates for the position; Rina Fontana Moore, Lynn DeRoche, Nancy Donovan, and Terry Thompson. 

The email is urging commissioners to not chose two of the four candidates, saying: "Dear county commissioners, please do not hire Ms. Moore or a member of her administration as cascade county's election administrator. Doing so would directly undermine the voters of cascade county, among other reasons."

Fontana Moore was the elections administrator and clerk and recorder until November 2022 when Sandra Merchant won the election by 36 votes.

Larson says when he received the email, he immediately sent it to their civil attorney, he got a response saying it was within Jacobsen's' first amendment rights to voice her opinion. 

"I would have been okay with that if she hadn't sent it on the state letterhead. That really did bother me. And I thought, you know, that if it's not illegal, it doesn't pass the smell test," said Larson.  

Both commissioner Larson and Rae Grulkowski say they didn't let the email sway their decision. 

"I was looking at the candidates for their ability in a management position," said Grulkowski. 

Grulkowski says she doesn't find it odd that Jacobsen used her state email. 

"I can't speak on her behalf, but I would think that it would indicate, if she's using her title, that she is wanting us to know that any decision would affect or could impact our state. And so if it was sent on a personal level, it wouldn't carry that message," said Grulkowski. 

I did reach out to the secretary of state's office for comment, and they responded with this email pictured below: 

As for the new elections administrator, Terry Thompson, commissioners say she has already hit the ground running in her new role.