National Noses Are In Our Great Falls School Election. Why?
The other day, a friend told me about a text she got from a place called Free to Learn Action, and wanted me to write an article on it.
In the text, it showed Great Falls Public School District candidate highlights. It also showed a party affiliation in those candidate highlights.
Does Montana Run School Elections along party lines?
I looked everywhere I could think of to find out if Montana runs school elections under party lines. The only REAL information I found was on Ballotopedia. They state:
In 41 states and the District of Columbia, state law requires nonpartisan elections for school boards.
They go on to say:
Law in four states—Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana, and, with some exceptions, Pennsylvania—automatically allow partisan school board board elections or party labels to appear on the ballot. These four states have a combined 878 school districts and 7,652 elected school board members. That’s about seven percent of all school districts in the country.
Laws in at least five states—Georgia, Rhode Island, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina—either explicitly allow for partisan or nonpartisan elections or gives local authorities enough control over elections to effectively allow the option. These five states have a combined 554 school districts and 3,342 elected school board members.
Basically, party affiliation doesn't come into play, or shouldn't, I should say, in Montana school elections.
Further research showed that the Montana Senate race next year will be one of the most watched in the nation. According to Politico the eyes of Washington are squarely set on this coming senate race.
What does that have to do with the Great Falls School Election?
From what I could gather, any smaller community elections (school, county commission, city commission, etc) where one party gets more political donations than the other, it sets the tone for national donations for the major elections next year, like the senate race in Montana. Basically, it looks like they say, "Montana runs really Democrat/Republican leaning. You can tell by the donations made and the parties of the winners of the smaller elections." Our track record, if you will.
One thing to note, people who register to run for school elections in Montana DO NOT register their political party. AND Free To Learn Action stated Tony Rosales is a Democrat, when actually he's a Libertarian.
What I Learned Today:
The gas-lighting has already started. I get SO SICK of America being in a constant election cycle, but here were are.
In Montana in 2024, we CAN NOT just listen to ads and vote accordingly. If people are taking the time to gaslight a school election, what in the bloody hell is going to happen next year? Do your own research before you vote.
I'll Try To Help
From now until the next election, if I see something shady or confusing from ANY party I'll try to research it and give you an article that isn't full of lies.
How You Can Help
Inform yourself and VOTE.
Email me with subjects you want me to dig into and write about. My email is here