3:30 P.M.: The race for Montana superintendent of public instruction was too close to call Thursday as Yellowstone County continued tallying votes two days after the general election.
With most votes counted, incumbent Denise Juneau led by less than a percentage point over Republican challenger Sandy Welch. Both Juneau and Welch have expressed confidence in their ability to win, and Welch said she will seek a recount if the final tally is close.
Yellowstone County is the last with returns yet to be counted. County elections registration clerk Barb Cox said Thursday officials hope to have all votes tallied by the end of the day.
Repeated problems with the county's three vote-counting machines delayed the results in the state's most populous county.
The machines were running Thursday morning and a technician was on hand in case they had more problems, Cox said.
Preliminary numbers show 485,492 people voted in this year's election for a 71.2 percent voter turnout.
That number may change, but it is lower at this point than the 74 percent turnout in the 2008 presidential election, Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said.
A record number of people registered and voted on Election Day this year since same-day registration was implemented in 2006. This year, there were 7,975 same-day registrants compared to 7,419 in 2008, McCulloch said.
Elections offices in Montana's largest cities reported long lines in which people had to wait several hours to register in vote, with some waiting until after midnight. The wait was due partly to the large number of people but also to the length of the ballot they had to fill out once they were registered, McCulloch said.
The preliminary number of late registrants — people who registered within 30 days of the election — was a record 19,928 people, compared to 18,357 in 2008.
McCulloch said county election officials did well in handling the demand and the voters should be commended for their patience.
"As an American, I'm thinking it's a good thing we can register and vote on Election Day and it's a good thing they waited," she said.
As for Yellowstone County, McCulloch said similar problems with the voting machines in processing ballots were seen and fixed in Flathead and Ravalli counties. But Yellowstone County has more ballots to count than other counties and Yellowstone's technical problems lasted longer, she said.
