Lawsuit filed after Montana’s secretary of state changed signature rules for citizen initiatives
HELENA, Mont. — Two organizations that collected voter signatures to qualify proposed constitutional amendments for the Montana ballot have filed a lawsuit, alleging that the secretary of state changed the rules on whose signatures could be accepted after the signatures were collected and while county election officials were reviewing them.
U.S. District Judge Mike Menahan scheduled a hearing in Helena for Tuesday on a motion to block the changes and allow the signatures of inactive voters to count toward the number of signatures needed to qualify the issues for the November ballot.
County election officials must verify the signatures and forward the totals to the secretary of state’s office by Friday.
The lawsuit alleges that county election officials previously accepted petition signatures from âinactive voters,â defined as those who do not vote in a general election and have not responded to attempts to confirm their mailing address. They can be reinstated to active voter status by confirming their address, going to the polls to vote or requesting a mail-in ballot.
Voter registrations may be cancelled if an inactive voter fails to vote in two additional federal general elections.
Signatures for the three constitutional amendments â including one to protect pre-viability abortion rights in the state constitution and another to eliminate partisan primaries â had to be delivered to counties by June 21.
A week later, Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen told counties to reject the signatures of inactive voters. On July 2, the statewide voter database was altered to prevent verification of inactive votersâ signatures, which the lawsuit claims is unconstitutional.
The Montana Constitution allows petitions to be signed by qualified voters. A voter is defined as a citizen of the United States who is at least 18 years of age and who meets the registration and residency requirements.
The Secretary of State argues that inactive voters are not âqualified votersâ whose signatures can be accepted. Her office says inactive voters must take steps, such as showing up to vote, verifying their address or requesting a mail-in ballot, to restore themselves to active voter, and thus âqualified voter,â status.
The Montana Republican Party opposes efforts to protect abortion rights and hold open primaries.
Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued an opinion finding that the proposed ballot language for partisan primaries and abortion protections were insufficient.
Knudsen rewrote the abortion language, saying the proposed amendment would, in part, âallow abortions after viability up to birth,â âeliminate the state’s compelling interest in preserving prenatal lifeâ and âcould increase the number of taxpayer-funded abortions.â
Supporters appealed his opinion to the Montana Supreme Court, and the petition text was approved. The justices wrote the petition text for the abortion initiative.
âExtremists have attempted to block this initiative, mislead voters by rewriting the language, disrupt signature gathering through intimidation, and violate the rights of registered voters in Montana to sign the petition,â Kiersten Iwai, spokesperson for Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights and executive director of Forward Montana, said in a statement.
Austin James, the chief legal counsel for the secretary of state’s office, warned supporters of the abortion initiative in a letter that a legal challenge “will likely frustrate the expeditious processing of your clients’ requests within the statutory timeframes granted to counties.”