District Court Judge District 4, Department 5

Missoula County, Montana · November 3, 2026

Whether to retain District Judge Shane A Vannatta of District 4, Department 5 for another term.

Full ballot text

Shall Judge SHANE A VANNATTA of DISTRICT 4, DEPT 5 of the state of Montana be retained in office for another term?

What it does

District judges are Montana's general trial judges, hearing felony cases, civil lawsuits, divorce and custody cases, and probate. The 4th Judicial District covers Missoula and Mineral counties, and judges serve six-year terms. A judge who runs unopposed stands for retention: voters decide yes or no on keeping the judge for another term.

How it lines up with you

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Dossier

Researched 2026-09-23 · Claude Code research agent with web search

Judge Shane A. Vannatta, who holds Missoula County's District Court Department 5 seat and is unopposed, faces a yes/no retention vote: yes keeps him for another six-year term, no makes the seat vacant for the governor to fill by appointment. Appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock in 2019 and elected in 2020, he has no organized campaign for or against him that we could find.

For

None found.

Against

None found.

What it does

Judge Shane A. Vannatta holds this seat now and is up for re-election in 2026 (Missoula County, official). As the only candidate, he faces a yes/no retention question (MCA 13-14-212); the Montana Constitution places an unopposed incumbent on the ballot "to allow the voters of the state or district to approve or reject him" (Mont. Const. Art. VII, Sec. 8). Yes gives him another six-year term (Legislative Services Division primer, 2022). If voters reject him, the seat becomes vacant and the governor appoints a replacement, subject to Senate confirmation (Mont. Const.). Neither the Constitution nor the statute states a percentage; in most states retention takes a simple majority of yes votes (IAALS, University of Denver).

Why it's on the ballot

Montana has used yes/no votes for unopposed judges since the 1970s (Montana Judicial Branch). Gov. Steve Bullock appointed Vannatta to the newly created Department 5 in February 2019, and the Senate confirmed him unanimously on March 8, 2019 (Missoula County). He became Montana's first openly gay judge (Missoulian via LGBTQ+ Judges, Feb. 22, 2019). He stood for election in 2020 (Missoula County) and won (Rotary Club of Missoula, Apr. 14, 2021). Before the bench he practiced business law for 25+ years at Worden Thane, earned his UM law degree in 1993, and was State Bar president in 2011-2012 (Missoula County).

Who supports it and why

We found no organized campaign for his retention.

Who opposes it and why

We found no organized campaign against his retention.

Money

We found no news coverage of fundraising, and state filings could not be read directly (Commissioner of Political Practices).

What to watch

On June 25, 2024, he struck down SB 458, the 2023 law defining sex as male or female, finding its title did not clearly express its subject (Daily Montanan via Missoula Current, June 26, 2024). He also ruled that the Motor Vehicle Division discriminated against a nonbinary minor denied a driver's license (KPAX/Daily Montanan, news, date not shown).

What we couldn't find

Whether his 2020 race was contested; whether the state appealed the rulings above; any 2026 campaign activity; and an official Montana source stating the retention threshold as a number.

Sources (11)