A post-election audit of Richland County’s June 2 primary has confirmed that voting equipment counted ballots accurately, with county officials formally certifying the results on June 15. The canvassing process adjusted final vote totals in the County Commissioner race but left no outcome changed.

Audit and Canvassing Process

Auditors examined ballots cast in two statewide contests — the U.S. Representative District 2 race and the Supreme Court Justice District 4 race — as part of Montana’s standard post-election review process. Richland County Clerk and Recorder Stephanie Verhasselt said the hand-count aligned precisely with machine tabulations. “What they counted back matched the machines perfectly,” she said.

The canvassing board was made up of county commissioners Duane Mitchell and Shane Gorder, along with Richland County Treasurer/Assessor Amy Metz. County Commissioner Loren Young, who also appeared on the ballot in the Commissioner race, was absent from the June 15 proceedings, having traveled to Shelby for the Montana Oil, Gas and Coal Counties annual meeting.

Once the board completed canvassing, it submitted certified results to the Montana Secretary of State’s office, closing out the county’s official primary cycle.

Commissioner Race Totals Revised Upward

While the canvass did not flip any race, it did produce upward revisions to every candidate’s total in the County Commissioner contest. Heidy MacGrady finished first with 584 votes, an increase of 12 over the unofficial tally. Pat Mathern came in second at 529 votes, up 7 from the earlier count. Loren Young placed third with 508 votes, the largest single adjustment at 26 additional votes. Brian Ler received 483 votes, a gain of 6, and Pat Asbeck finished with 462, up 7 from the unofficial figure.

The revisions reflect the normal reconciliation of provisional ballots, late-arriving mail ballots, and any clerical corrections that occur between election night reporting and formal certification — a routine step in Montana’s election calendar.

Context: Montana’s 2026 Primary

Richland County’s certification comes roughly two weeks after Montana’s June 2026 primary set a midterm participation record statewide as voter rolls continued to expand. County-level canvassing boards across the state have been completing similar certification proceedings in the days following that election.

Post-election audits in Montana are designed to provide an independent check on tabulation equipment before results become official. The process involves hand-counting a sample of ballots from selected races and comparing those counts against machine totals. A clean audit — where hand and machine counts align — satisfies state requirements and allows certification to proceed without further review.

Montana election law requires each county canvassing board to complete its work and transmit certified results to the Secretary of State within a set window after election day. Richland County met that timeline with its June 15 canvass.

What Comes Next

With the primary certified, candidates who advanced out of June’s contests will turn their attention to the November 3 general election. The Secretary of State’s office will compile certified county results statewide to produce official primary outcomes, which set the ballot for the fall race.

Richland County, located in eastern Montana’s oil-producing Williston Basin region, has a competitive Commissioner race heading into the general. MacGrady’s first-place finish in the primary positions her as the front-runner heading into the fall, though the full general-election field will depend on how all parties’ candidates qualified through the primary process.

The clean audit result also adds to a pattern of uneventful post-election reviews across Montana, reinforcing confidence in the state’s tabulation systems ahead of what is expected to be a high-turnout general election cycle. Interest in election integrity procedures has remained elevated nationally, making transparent county-level certifications like Richland County’s an increasingly visible part of the electoral calendar.