Source: the Montana Secretary of State's Absentee Ballot Counts report, which counties update as they mail and receive ballots, and its registered voters by county report. Montana has no party registration, so there is no party split. This site saves a copy of the counts twice a day; its day-by-day history starts on Oct 20, 2026.
Where 2026 stands
2024 by night, against 2026 at the same days out
2022 counts given out before Election Day, against 2026 at the same days out
Ballots sent and received by day
Counties mail absentee ballots 25 days before Election Day (Oct 9 in 2026) and take them back until polls close at 8 p.m. on Nov 3. Each point is the Secretary of State's count as of this site's last copy that day. The hollow dots on Election Day are the final count of absentee ballots returned in 2022 and 2024 for the geography picked, from the federal Election Administration and Voting Survey. Statewide, the earlier 2024 dots are the Secretary of State's own figures at the same number of days before Election Day, and the earlier 2022 dots are the three counts officials gave out before that Election Day; no county counts by day survive from 2024, and from 2022 only Gallatin's and Yellowstone's on Oct 28.
Each copy
Ballots back per registered voter
Ballots received so far as a share of each county's registered voters (active and inactive), so counties of very different size can be compared. The green hollow dot is the share of registered voters who were sent a ballot, so the gap between it and the blue dot is ballots still out; the orange and purple hollow dots are the share returned by the end of 2022 and 2024. Click a row to make that county the geography for every section.
Map: where ballots are coming back
All 56 counties on one scale. Click or tap a county to make it the geography for every section.
Show map data as a table
Counties
Every county's ballots sent and received, the share returned, ballots per registered voter, and how far 2026 has come toward each county's final 2022 and 2024 returns. Click a row to make that county the geography for every section. Counts from 1 to 9 show "<10".