School Board Challenger Up By One Vote in Montana Election

One of the challengers taking on an incumbent in the hotly contested school board races in Billings, Montana is now up by just one vote. This, after provisional ballots were counted at the Yellowstone County Courthouse.

According to the results posted on the Yellowstone County elections website Monday afternoon, John VonLangen now leads incumbent Brian Yates 2,570 votes to 2,569. VonLangen is one of the challenger school board candidates who has criticized school mask mandates and other policies supported by the current board establishment.

Several other challengers also came close to picking off incumbents in the Billings School District 2 elections, with some coming within 100 votes of the incumbents.

Thanks to Brooke Hudson with MakeMaskingOptional.com for the heads up on the news.

Last week, Brooke shared the news following election night of just how close these results were across the board. "Sad we didn’t win them all, but parents went up against a well funded union and got close," she said on Twitter. She added, "Let’s just say private schools with more conservative views are bursting at the seams and doing additions. Some parents picking up part time jobs just to pay for tuition to get their kids out of the district."

Another Twitter used added, "Everyone's vote matters folks. Extremely close in every race."

The one vote difference in the VonLangen-Yates race will likely trigger a recount.

I for one applaud the valiant efforts of all of these challenger school board candidates and hope they stay in the fight for the win in the next go-round.