County election admin placed on administrative leave

Barely a month before local school board elections, Lincoln County's election administrator is at home with no assurance of when she may return to work.

Melanie Howell, hired to run the county’s elections in May 2023 following the resignation of Paula Buff, was put on paid administrative leave Friday, March 31, according to county Clerk and Recorder Corinna Brown.

Brown didn’t disclose why Howell was placed on paid leave, but said her office would be managing the elections with help from election office assistant Sierra Gustin.

At the Election Office in the county Annex building on Mineral Avenue in Libby, a sign was attached indicating election assistance was available at the Clerk and Recorder’s Office at 512 California Ave. in the courthouse.

However, Howell shared her thoughts on the matter with The Western News. 

Howell said before she and Gustin had to move to the Clerk and Recorder’s Office from their office in the county Annex building following the November 2024 general election, Brown was frequenting the Election Office on a regular basis and had emailed Howell up to 28 times in a day.

“We were getting calls from other counties asking why she (Brown) was so involved when she was actively on the ballot. I could only wonder if she was trying to see who was voting for her,” Howell said.

Three election judges spoke on behalf of Howell in phone interviews Thursday, April 3, with The Western News.

Linda Ralph, who is also Howell’s mother, moved to Lincoln County in 2023 and first served as an election judge in the November 2023 general election. She also served as a judge during the November 2024 general election and worked in the Memorial Center, Libby’s polling location, and then in the Election Office in the basement of the county Annex building.

“Corinna was in the Election Office the night of the election,” Ralph said. “She was on the computer and she was handling ballots that ended up getting mixed up in different precincts. We had to go back and fix it.

“She (Corinna Brown) should have never been allowed in that office because she was on the ballot,” Ralph said. “Melanie has been hard-working and conscientious and Corinna is doing her best to overthrow it.”

Brown, in a phone interview with The Western News Thursday, said she had no comment.

Veronica Bovee-Anderson was also an election judge during last November’s general election. She worked at the Eureka polling place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.

“Melanie has my total support,” Bovee-Anderson said in a phone interview Thursday with The Western News. “She knows the laws, gave me a lot of assurances that the elections were being run properly and she makes sure we follow the law.

“Also, between her and Sierra (Gustin), they’re doing a good job cleaning up the voter rolls.”

Another election judge, Christie Silva, served on the 2024 primary and general elections.

“Melanie does things by the book,” Silva said. If she sees something wrong, "she’ll point it out, so it gets done right.”

Silva recalled the November 2024 general election as a hectic day.

“Corinna and her helper came to the election office and sat in the break area, but there was one time when we were opening ballot envelopes and she went through them,” Silva said.

In the June 4, 2024, primary election, Brown received 61% of the votes, 2,063, topping challenger Lorrene Henson, who received 1,303. In the November general election, Brown had no opposition and received 9,994 votes.

Brown was appointed to the position when former clerk Robin Benson resigned in March 2023. Benson joined Buff and another election office employee in resigning following heightened tension between them and former County Commissioner Josh Letcher.

Buff later sued the county, alleging she was constructively discharged.

“Constructive discharge” means the voluntary termination of employment by an employee because of a situation created by an act or omission of the employer which an objective, reasonable person would find so intolerable that voluntary termination is the only reasonable alternative. Buff also alleged acts and omissions by the county were “malicious.”

Letcher alleged Buff falsified election documents at a March 1, 2023 meeting, though Benson said she had no idea of what documents Letcher was referring to and was not provided a copy of any specific documents.

Buff’s case is set for a jury trial in December. 

Brown and Howell have butted heads previously. In July 2024, Howell sought a split from the Clerk and Recorder’s Office. She cited various reasons at a July 10, 2024, commissioners meeting, including election security and to avoid confusion for voters. 

Howell cited state code that the clerk and recorder is the default election administrator unless another is appointed. Once Howell was hired, she argued there was no need for involvement from the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

Howell also cited other Montana law that the election administrator designates the admin’s office and may designate one or more places where ballots may be returned.

“She (Corinna) wanted me to change the advertising in two local newspapers, the Kootenai Valley Record and Tobacco Valley News, to amend the location where our office would be located from Mineral Avenue to California Avenue. But that’s breaking state law.”

At the July 10, 2024, commission meeting, Gustin also cited security concerns.

“The Clerk and Recorder Office is highly unsecure for any election materials since it’s open to the public,” Gustin said. “I’ve gone over to grab mail that may have accidentally gone to the Clerk and Recorder's Office and found voter registration forms that they have accepted with copies of driver’s licenses, veteran IDs, Social Security numbers and vehicle registrations, which is highly unacceptable and unsecure.”

At an August 2024 commissioners meeting, they unanimously voted against separating the Election Department from the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

Howell said at the time she was hopeful her department would have better relations with the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

“I’ve been trying for a year and a half and haven’t had any luck yet,” Howell said then.

Howell and Gustin first moved their operations to the courthouse on Nov. 22, 2023, after Brown made the request. 

At the time, she said Election Department officials, “operating from the Clerk and Recorder's Office has become our standard practice.”

The Election Department has had more than its share of struggles since 2020. Howell is the fourth person to hold the election administrator title since that year. Buff was on the job from 2021 to 2023. Before her, Chris Nelson served from August 2020 to November 2020. He resigned following the general election that year.

That year, a ballot box was left temporarily unaccounted for in the days after the November election.

Nelson replaced longtime election administrator Leigh Riggleman, who resigned in 2020 while commissioners wrangled over holding an all mail-in election, meant to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, or a traditional poll election.

During Howell’s tenure, there have been a few mistakes.

In the November 2023 general election, nearly 400 absentee voters were sent ballots instructing them to choose one candidate for Eureka City Council. But there were two open seats. Howell confirmed to the Tobacco Valley News the mistake happened within the Election Department during the proofing process. She said her department received the correct information from Eureka and the printer was not responsible for the error.

The other miscue occurred in the 2024 primary election when Howell didn’t appoint election judges in a timely manner, violating state law. At minimum, the appointments should have been made May 6, at least 30 days prior to the primary.

“So, we have our judges for the 2024 primary, although I know it’s past date, we will be using those same judges for the November election,” Howell said at the June 12 commissioners meeting.

Howell said she owned the mistake, but said she didn’t realize the judge list needed submitted.

“But the clerk and recorder never pointed that out to me,” Howell said then.