LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Lynn DeRoche is now running for Cascade County Clerk & Recorder. Voters deserve to know exactly who she is — and what she has already done while working inside the election office.
In the 2023 Fort Shaw Irrigation District election, DeRoche deliberately helped engineer a scheme that disenfranchised hundreds of legitimate voters and favored Commissioner Kennard Steinke. Court documents in the ongoing lawsuit (ADV-23-255) lay it out clearly:
She sent an email falsely telling the election administrator that co-owners of property “must” submit new voting designations—even though the law changed in 2019 and no such requirement existed (Mont. Code Ann. § 85-7 1710).
She and FSID secretary Charla Merja privately agreed to “bury” prior valid designations that were already on file and to tell voters they “MUST” file brand-new forms or they would not receive ballots.
They used outdated 2017 statutory language in the voter notice and refused ballots to co owners who followed the actual law.
The result: at least 3,422 legitimate votes from co-owners were blocked. The chaos directly helped Commissioner Kennard Steinke win re-election.
This wasn’t a mistake. The emails and timeline in the court brief show it was coordinated and intentional. DeRoche and others created confusion, ignored the current law, and shorted votes to favor Steinke.
Today the Clerk & Recorder no longer runs elections — but the office still handles critical public records, voter registration support, and official documents that affect every citizen. If Lynn DeRoche was willing to bury records, mislead voters, and manipulate an election to help her preferred candidate when she was just an employee, what will she do when she has the top job?
Cascade County voters have a right to know this history before they cast their ballots. Underhanded tactics have no place in public office.
On June 2nd, vote for Deserae Valentine for Cascade County Clerk & Recorder — the candidate who will actually protect our elections and our rights.
Sally Tucker Cascade County
