The Ravalli County Republican Central Committee voted to adopt a resolution on Tuesday to reject the results of the 2020 election citing violations of state and federal law, documentary evidence of ballot trafficking, and a state legislative audit on the security and maintenance of Montana election systems that reported outdated voter rolls and a lack of security oversight.

The Ravalli County Republican Central Committee of the State of Montana formally rejects the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the electoral college of the United States. We strongly urge Americans to ensure election integrity and accountability steps are in place and enforced by correcting all fraud and weaknesses identified in all states in the 2020 Election.

Resolution adopted July 5, 2022.

Thirty members of the committee signed the resolution including twenty-seven precinct members, state committee persons Allan Lackey and Jeannie Poe, chairman Terry Nelson, and State Senator Theresa Manzella (SD-44). Fourteen precinct members did not sign the resolution.

The resolution was organized by committee members including Barbara Parell and Doug Bohn.

“We’ve all been concerned and it’s been a topic of conversation at our central committee meetings,” Parell said. “My husband and I are precinct captains for Ravalli County. Neither of us are very political though we believe our country is under assault. We are conservative mainly because of our Christian values.”

Parell and other committee members were moved to act because they were frustrated with illegal political action committee money from the Convention of States PAC in Michigan that influenced the primary election in June and from $2.4 million in grants from the non-profit Center for Tech and Civic Life during the 2020 election.

“We talk about it and talk about it and nothing happens. We found out in the primary that some PAC money came into the county from Michigan,” Parell said. “We started talking about it and asked, ‘Why is it that we allow so many people to influence our lives when they don’t know anything about us?'”

“Somebody mentioned the ‘Zuckerbucks.’ Look how much they spent nationwide,” Parell said.

In 2020, the Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to county elections departments including granting monies to 30 of 56 Montana counties. The grant money was to be used for COVID mitigation and to build a permanent infrastructure for mail-in ballot elections. Ravalli County received $19,593 in CTCL grant funds.

Blain County, with an Indian reservation located at the southeast corner of the county, received the highest per capita amount of CTCL funding in the country with $36.40 being spent per citizen for a total of $256,433 in CTCL funding. Compare that to Yellowstone County which received the most money in the state with $320,593 in grant funding, just 22% more than Blaine County despite having 23 times the population of Blaine.

Parell and others are frustrated with inaction over the grant funds, noting in the resolution that the funds were accepted despite state law barring such contributions. According to state code MCA 13-1-302, election costs are required to be paid by the county.

“It’s sad that this always lands on deaf ears and we don’t do anything about it,” Parell said.

Inspired by the recent resolution from the Texas State GOP to reject the results of the 2020 election, Parell worked with other committee members to advance their own resolution.

“There seems to be a lack of interest in even talking about this with half of our people. I thought, maybe what we need to do is setup a resolution and put the paper down for a vote at the next committee meeting,” Parell shared.

Resolutions supporters said one of the goals of the resolution was to find out who supported efforts to shore up elections in Montana and who did not.

“The interesting thing is, it really did exactly what we wanted it to do. To really start seeing who on the central committee is there because they like hobnobbing with politicians and who is there because they really want to make a change in America and stop being wimps. It did exactly that,” Parell said. “We got a little more than half of the people there that evening that could sign it, to sign it.”

Sen. Manzella told Western Montana News that Ravalli citizens were not moving on from the 2020 election, “This resolution was citizen driven. The evidence is becoming overwhelming and undeniable. Our citizens will not tolerate this being sweep under the rug.”  

“Citizens demand transparency and accountability,” Manzella said. “They want confidence in their elections and they want their Country back. I’ll do everything within my ability to aid them in that worthy cause.”

The legislative audit report cited by the committee as a reason for rejecting the 2020 election results was published in August of 2020, just before the election. The report found hundreds of dead voters from just a sampling of county voter registrants not cleared from the voter rolls, some maintained on the rolls for over 10 years. State law requires that election administrators regularly maintain the voter rolls, but the report indicated that is not happening.

“The dates of death on the outstanding deceased list ranged from 2009 to 2020. Table 2 (see page 26) shows that most deaths have occurred within the past two to three years, but there is still roughly 10 percent or more of the list that have been outstanding for over three years or prior to 2017.”

Information Systems Audit. Security and Maintenance of Montana Election Systems. August 2020.

The committee’s resolution also cites violation of state law and the US Constitution regarding the 2020 election. Article I, Section 4 reserves the power to determine the “time, place, and manner” of federal elections to the state’s legislators.

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof

Article I, Section 4, US Constitution.

In 2020, former Governor Steve Bullock ordered counties to conduct all mail-in ballot elections which resulted in ballots being sent to every person on the voter rolls in every county, including dead voters and other ineligible voters.

Montana code MCA 13-19-104 specifically prohibits all mail-in ballot elections stating that “a regularly scheduled federal, state, or county election” “may not be conducted by mail ballot.”

The committee’s resolution encourages other Montana Republican central committees to adopt a similar resolution. The adoption of the Ravalli County resolution comes right before the Montana Republican Party 2022 Platform Convention which will be held next week in Billings.

“We want to bring it to the state level,” Parell said.

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Resolution signed copy