Election records show Powers did not vote twice, or look to thwart voter registration laws

House District 3 Rep. Debo Powers (D-Polebridge) is under fire by opponents for her voting registration, but she said she has done nothing wrong and public voting records back up her claim.

According to election records, Deborah “Debo” Davy Powers was briefly registered to vote in two states — Montana and Florida, but only for a few days as the paperwork was shuffled between the two and there is no evidence of malicious intent.

Joe Novak, a North Forker himself, claimed Powers was breaking the law by being registered in two states.

“After checking with the Flathead County Board of Elections she was clearly registered for a time in two states — which is illegal,” Novak claimed in an email to the Hungry Horse News.

But the record proves otherwise.

Powers said she registered to vote in Montana when she got her driver’s license on April 20, 2017.

She said when she filled out the registration form, she properly checked the box that canceled her registration in Florida.

Leon County, Florida election officials, responding to a request for Powers’ voting records, noted they canceled her registration on May 22, 2017, “When our office received notice that she is now registered to vote in the State of Montana,” said Stephen Usztok Voter Services Manager for Leon County in an email to the Hungry Horse News.

According to Leon County records, her Montana voter registration was actually April 28, 2017. The Florida Secretary of State’s office was notified on May 2, 2017. Leon County’s election department, in turn, was notified 20 days later, on May 22.

“That kind of gap (in notifications) is definitely not weird,” Usztok told the Hungry Horse News.

Powers also did not vote in both states.

According to Leon County election department records, she last voted in Leon County in 2016 in the general election by absentee ballot.

She first voted in Montana in 2017, in the May 25 special election.

Powers previously lived in Leon County where she was a school principal. She has lived in both states for decades and sought to set the record of her residency straight.

“I have been paying property taxes in Montana since 1996 when I purchased land in the North Fork and started building my cabin a few years later.  I claimed residency and began paying Montana income taxes in 2017.  This will be my fourth year of paying Montana income taxes,” Powers said in an email. “Since 1979, I have been spending part of the year in the North Fork in House District 3.  When I retired in 2011, I started spending as much time as I could in Montana (about six months each year), but I went to Florida for the winter to help my brother take care of my elderly mother and to spend the holidays with her.

“Once my mother passed away, I could be in Montana all year.  Even when not in Montana, I continued my Montana public service activities, such as President of the North Fork Landowners Association.  Montana is where I always wanted to be, I worked really hard to get here, and I finally got here.  I am proud to serve as the state representative in House District 3.”