Montana students cast ballots in Montana Youth Vote Election

HELENA, Mont. - Students across Montana participated in the 2022 Montana Youth Vote Election last week, and the results have now been tallied and are available on the Youth Vote website. Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and Superintendent of Public Schools Elsie Arntzen unveiled the results on Monday.

This year's youth election was held October 31st – November 4th and was open to all Montana students in grades K-12. The Youth Vote polled two demographics, breaking the students into age groups of grades K-6 and 7-12. Younger students were able to cast votes in Montana's two United States Representative races, along with other fun, age-appropriate questions. Grades 7-12 voted in both U.S. Representative races, the two Montana Supreme Court contests, and both of the statewide ballot initiatives.

In the past, Montana's Youth Vote Election has been somewhat of a predictor for candidates and ballot initiatives. In 2020, Montana students correctly predicted every race.

Tallied results from grades K-12 can be seen below in order of percentage of votes received:

United States House District 1

Ryan Zinke (R) 49.28%

Monica Tranel (D) 29.77%

John Lamb (L) 20.95%

United States House District 2

Matt Rosendale (R) 49.39%

Gary Buchanan (I) 23.14%

Penny Ronning (D) 20.10%

Sam Rankin (L) 7.37%

Supreme Court Justice #1

Bill D'Alton 59.50%

Jim Rice 40.50%

Supreme Court Justice #2

James Brown 63.91%

Ingrid Gustafson 36.09%

Constitutional Amendment C-48

Yes 73.15%

No 26.85%

Legislative Referendum No. 131

Yes 62.20%

No 37.80%