Phyllis Sauter, Missoula County Election Deputy Extraordinaire

Phyllis Sauter is no stranger to Missoula County Elections. Even before she became an Election Deputy 15 years ago, Phyllis was a long-standing Election Judge. Her love of politics and history first drew Phyllis to elections and she has been a strong advocate of the democratic process her entire life.

“I’ve always thought that if people don’t take advantage of voting and don’t show their preferences by voting that we as a country could lose our privileges,” Phyllis said. “I got involved in the early 1990s because I care about our process and don’t want that to happen.”

Although Phyllis’ day-to-day work varies between helping customers and working in the Elections Office warehouse, she is one of the main contributors in the ballot preparation process. She helps to oversee the ballot printing process, distributes ballots to voters, verifies and works through petitions and sets up the equipment for poll elections.

Phyllis Sauter prepping ballots for the November election. 

“I do many different things throughout the election process,” Phyllis said. “What can be the most difficult at times is entering in voter registration information. There can be hundreds of entries, especially before an election, and reading everything on a card can be hard.”

But for Phyllis, all the hard work and stress pays off on Election Day when she sees all the citizens turning out to vote.

“It’s good to know you’re a part of this process and that people are taking advantage of it,” she said.

When Phyllis is not working at the Elections Office she enjoys spending time with her husband of 35 years, Dennis.  She has two sons, Ron and Duane , and a daughter, Kelly. Her two grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, one great-grandchild and five great-grandchildren keep her busy. She also likes reading anything written by James Patterson.