Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Articles written by Alex Sakariassen


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  • Why Montana Data is Missing From National Childhood Immunization Reports

    ALEX SAKARIASSEN, Montana Free Press|Dec 11, 2024

    This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. A reader pointed out earlier this week that national reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on kindergarten vaccination rates have shown what they considered a conspicuous omission over the past three years — a complete absence of data for the state of Montana. Finding their curiosity infectious, we dug in. We confirmed that, shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, M...

  • What's Next in Montana's 2024 Election Process?

    ALEX SAKARIASSEN, Montana Free Press|Nov 13, 2024

    The votes have been cast and the races called in Montana’s 2024 general election. But for county workers, the election process itself is still not over, and vote counts won’t be considered truly official for several more weeks, until after they complete a variety of tasks intended to finalize counts and verify the accuracy of the results. That work is already well underway in many county election offices across the state, with trained election workers and staff preparing thousands of provisional ballots for verification and counting next wee...

  • How Montana Ballots Become Election Results

    ALEX SAKARIASSEN, Montan Free Press|Nov 6, 2024

    As of Sunday Nov. 3, more than 395,00 Montana voters had submitted their ballots for the 2024 general election, according to the secretary of state. Others spent portions of their Monday casting their votes early at county election offices using a one-time absentee option. Even more will flock to the polls Tuesday to stand at a booth and fill in the bubbles next to their candidates of choice. How exactly do all those paper ballots transform into the official results flashed on television and computer screens come election night? The answer to t...

  • Twin Constitutional Initiatives Aim to Make Montana Elections More Competitive

    ALEX SAKARIASSEN, Montana Free Press|Oct 16, 2024

    In addition to a slate of federal and statewide races, Montana voters next month will be asked to weigh in on a pair of proposed amendments to the state Constitution rewriting the very process by which they choose their elected officials. Taken together, Constitutional Initiatives 126 and 127 would amend the Montana Constitution to alter the face of even-year elections from start to finish. CI-126 would jettison the state's separate party June primaries in favor of a single multi-party primary...

  • How Montana Pays For Its Public Schools, in Pictures

    ALEX SAKARIASSEN and ERIC DIETRICH, Montana Free Press|Feb 28, 2024

    Educating Montana’s youth is one of the state’s most costly endeavors and a responsibility shouldered by citizens of all stripes: teachers, parents, voters, taxpayers. It’s a promise baked into the very fabric of the state Constitution, which vows to develop the full educational potential of each citizen. How Montana tries to meet that lofty goal, financially speaking, is a constant point of policy wrangling. The intricacies of school budgeting are also a perennial source of confusion for Monta...

  • Who's running for office in Montana in 2024? Here's a running list.

    ARREM KIMBEL-SANNIT and ALEX SAKARIASSEN, Montana Free Press|Jan 24, 2024

    Montana’s 2024 ballot will host a suite of consequential elections — among them a race that could decide the balance of the U.S. Senate, two open seats on the Montana Supreme Court, two U.S. House races, the governorship, and a bevy of other statewide offices. And, for good measure, there may be some major ballot measures thrown in too. With less than a year to election day, campaign announcements are coming fast and furious from seasoned politicians and grassroots activists alike. It’s enough to bewilder a political junkie, much less a more...