‘It’s like mob rule here’: Ravalli County panelists claim 2020 election fraud

While a crowd of nearly 400 people filled the Ravalli County Fairgrounds Events Center on Monday night for the meeting, few were left after it adjourned nearly five hours later. Former Ravalli County Sherriff Jay Printz described the event as a “big old bitch session.”

“Jesus, it’s like mob rule here,” Printz said after several speakers accused Ravalli County officials of numerous discredited claims of election fraud. “Every one of these people I know are people of integrity. You’re lucky to have them. Not one of these guys here is corrupt, or dishonest, or doing anything illegal. These people are my neighbors for Christ’s sake. I grew up in this county. I’m a fourth-generation Bitterrooter. How many of you in here can say that?”

The organizers of the meeting were Tim and Patt Hancock of Stevensville, who had presented a petition alleging widespread election crimes signed by 350 people to the commissioners. The event was billed as a Special Ravalli County Commission Meeting and Public Forum on election integrity. 

“We believe the 2020 election was stolen” said Tim Hancock in his opening remarks.

Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg, Sherriff Steve Holton and Administrative Assistant Chris Taggart joined Ravalli County commissioners Dan Huls, Jeff Burrows and Greg Chilcott on the stage. Leaning against the table where county officials were seated was a sign stating that “Montana’s entire election infrastructure has been corrupted.” The sign included references to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, phantom voters and harvested ballots. Similar signs questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential election were propped up around the venue and tables lining the back of the room were filled with literature promoting beliefs prevalent in the election denial movement.

“This meeting came about largely because of the Hancock family,” Commissioner Dan Huls said in a brief introduction. “Tim and Patt came and sat with us one day, and we discussed many of these issues. They invited us to host the meeting, and we thought that we would do that and hope that it will be a productive meeting.”

Following Huls comments, the public platform was handed over to a panel of speakers who promoted theories of a stolen election. Most of the claims had been previously debunked over the years. Nevertheless, the speakers repeatedly accused both Plettenburg and the county commissioners of illegal activity related to the funding and certification of the 2020 election.

Montana Election Integrity Project President and panel speaker Jane Rectenwald accused Plettenberg and the Ravalli County Clerk and Recorders Office of illegally taking nearly $20,000 from Zuckerberg through an organization called the Center for Tech and Civic Life. The nonprofit distributed $350 million in donations from Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan to election offices across the U.S. in the form of COVID-response grants during the height of the pandemic.

The donations were intended to help elections officials prepare for the unprecedented challenge of administering an election in a pandemic, yet ended up inciting backlash from conservative groups suspicious that the contributions may have tilted the outcome of the 2020 presidential race. Many GOP-led states made moves to ban private donations to elections offices in the years following. The grant project has been pejoratively nicknamed “Zuckerbucks” by some on the right who have questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, a term Rectenwald used frequently throughout her presentation.

The Anti-Defamation League has denounced the use of the term as antisemitic. National Director of the Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt condemned the use of the term by Republicans at a public town hall following the 2020 election.

“The term ‘Zuckerbucks’ is a revival of the antisemitic age-old stereotype that wealthy Jews maintain control over governments,” Greenblatt said. “Those who use the term ‘Zuckerbucks’ are dangerously enabling (this) antisemitic trope.”

Plettenberg defended the work of her office and explained how the chain-of-custody and audit process in the county work to audience members.

“We are not your enemy,” she said.

Ravalli County Sherriff Steve Holton defended Plettenberg and the commissioners when asked if he had seen evidence of illegal activity pertaining to the 2020 election in Ravalli County.

“There’s no evidence that an elected official in Ravalli County knowingly or purposely violated any Montana election laws,” he said.

Rectenwald went on to accuse the commissioners of illegally certifying the 2020 election and questioned if signatures on the state canvass certification for 2020 and 2022 were fraudulent. Rectenwald’s calls for the Ravalli County commissioners to decertify the 2020 election results elicited cheers from the crowd. 

Rectenwald was also part of a group of Republicans that raised allegations of voting irregularities in Missoula County during the 2020 elections, resulting in a private audit of all the county’s ballots. The Missoula County Republican Central Committee investigated the group’s ballot audit and found no evidence of fraud.

When Holton was pushed further by an audience member as to whether he had seen evidence presented during the evening’s presentation, Holton stated that based on the testimony given there, he did not see any evidence of illegal activity by any elected official in Ravalli County.

“That’s dangerous territory,” Holton said. “You do not want your sheriff to walk into any crime and collect evidence for what he already believes and disregarding everything else.”

Missoula electrical engineer and army veteran Greg Woodward also spoke on the panel. Much of Woodward’s presentation was predicated on previously debunked analysis by Ohio math teacher Douglas Frank, who Woodward referred to as a “renowned physicist.” The mathematical equation that Frank and his followers claim proves the 2020 election was stolen has been discredited by multiple mathematicians and election experts since the election, but that has not stopped the theory from gaining traction in the years since with those who believe the election was rigged.

Panel members’ claims also included allegations of illegal ballots being printed, ballot stuffing, voter fraud, inflated voter rolls and collusion among companies such as Dominion, Smartmatic, and voting tabulator manufacturer ES&S. The last speaker, a woman from Venezuela identified only as “Vesna,” even went so far as to call the 2020 election part of a “world coup” during her speech about living under former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ rule.

Audience member Mike Webber of Hamilton questioned the statements made throughout the night during the question-and-answer period and reminded the audience that Fox News had paid out a $787.5 million settlement to Dominion for broadcasting election fraud claims a Delaware Superior Court jury found defaming and false. Webber was shouted down by the audience.

“I think I have freedom of speech too,” Webber said before returning to his seat. “This is pretty hostile.”

Many in the audience disputed that Fox was held liable for defamation, shouting that there was no settlement. 

Webber was later heard saying “this is a disgrace” as he got up to leave the event.