HELENA -- In a move that opens the door for Democrats to take control of the state House of Representatives, the Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 Tuesday that a Democrat outright won the race for legislator from Lake County.

The decision means Democrats and Republicans are now tied 50-50 in the House and sets the stage for a Democrat to rise to the powerful post of House speaker for the first time in 14 years. The decision also means Democrats have made a clean sweep of power, taking the Senate and governor's office in November, with control of the House now cinched.

The race between Lake County legislative candidates Democrat Jeanne Windham and Constitutional Party member Rick Jore had been declared a tie. Gov. Judy Martz selected Jore to the post earlier this month. That gave Republicans slim control of the House with 50 GOP members, 49 Democrats and Jore, who had previously served in the House as a Republican.

However, Windham believed seven ballots that should have been discarded because voters appeared to vote for both for Jore and Republican candidate Jack Cross were improperly counted for Jore. After Windham unsuccessfully asked the Montana Supreme Court to settle the matter a few weeks go, Anita Big Spring, a Lake County voter, filed suit in Lake County asking for the contested ballots to be thrown out.

Judge Kim Christopher of Polson disagreed and maintained that the race was properly called a tie with Jore rightfully seated in the house by the governor's appointment.

Big Spring appealed to the high court just 12 days ago, the day the Lake County judge made her decision. With unusual speed, the high court ruled in an abbreviated two-page order that at least one of the double-marked ballots was invalid. Consequently, the race was not a tie and Windham is the true winner.

Justices gave little justification for their argument and said that a longer, more comprehensive opinion will be released later -- after the 2005 Legislature convenes. The court wanted to get its decision out as soon as possible because so much was resting on it, the order said.

Chief Justice Karla Gray, and Justices Jim Regnier, Bill Leaphart, Jim Nelson, Patricia Cotter and John Warner sided with the majority. Only Justice Jim Rice, a former Republican legislator, disagreed. His dissenting opinion will be issued later.

"Justice prevailed today," Windham said in a telephone interview. "I was always confident from the beginning that all seven illegal ballots that were counted would be thrown out. My regret is that it took this long."

Windham, who lost a bid for the Lake County commission two years ago and has no other political experience, said she is ready to be sworn in and start work on Monday.

Ordinarily, the party with the most members elects its leader as House speaker, the most powerful post in the House. But in the case of a tie, a few things can happen, said Rep. Dave Wanzenried, D-Missoula, leader of the House Democrats. If two candidates -- a Democrat and Republican -- tie in the race for House speaker, the candidate who is of the party of the governor wins. In this case, that would mean that a Democrat rises to the top spot.

Or, the Republicans could nominate a Democrat they like better than the person House Democrats have already selected as their leader, in this case, Wanzenried. If that person wins by a clear majority, a Democrat will still rise to the top spot, but it may be someone more to the Republican's liking.

Either way, Wanzenried said, a Democrat will end up House speaker, but will preside over a split House, and Democrats and Republicans will have to work together to get any bill passed.

It is also theoretically possible -- although unlikely -- for a Republican to run for House Speaker and gather enough Democrat votes to win the seat.

Under House rules, the speaker appoints committee chairmen and decides which lawmakers will sit on which committees. But in the case of a tie, Wanzenried said, House members will have to figure out such matters among themselves.

"I'm elated that the court has upheld the integrity of each vote being counted properly," said Wanzenried, a likely candidate for House speaker.

Rep. Roy Brown, R-Billings, the man who until the top court's decision was his party's choice for new House speaker, said he's probably not going to even nominate himself for the position.

"I don't waste my time with things that don't seem attainable," Brown said, adding that he disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision. "What the Democrats can't get at the ballot, they get from the court."

For his part, Jore said he would like to see the Supreme Court's justification of the decision that stripped him of the office.

"I thought that common sense would prevail here," he said.

"I don't like the notion of everything being entirely centralized. This notion that we've got to have the Supremes determine every little issue, that we can't have our county government do something as simple as hold an election."

Still, Jore said, "it's not the end of the world. I'm disappointed, but it's not the end of the world."