A Montana judge says the Secretary of State's Office was wrong to change the rules governing whose signatures should count on petitions for constitutional initiatives, including one to protect abortion rights. Officials had tried to omit the signatures of inactive voters after counties began verifying signatures.
Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Mike Menehan speaks during a temporary restraining order hearing in a suit against the Montana Secretary of State brought by Montana ns Securing Reproductive Rights and Montana ns for Election Reform over ballot initiative signature exclusions on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse in Helena, Mont.
Thane Johnson, an attorney representing Jacobsen’s office, argued that a ruling wasn’t urgently needed. Johnson noted that supporters of the abortion initiative, another to hold open primaries and a third to require candidates to obtain a majority vote to win a general election had already turned in more than enough signatures to qualify, even without signatures from inactive voters. Johnson also argued that voters weren’t being disenfranchised by their signature being rejected from a petition.
He left it up to attorneys for both sides to reach an agreement on the details and said he would sign the order. The attorneys were meeting Tuesday afternoon.The lawsuit alleged that the state had, for nearly three decades, accepted the petition signatures of “inactive voters,” defined as those who fail to vote in a general election and who haven’t responded to efforts to confirm their mailing address.
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights and Montanans for Election Reform filed the lawsuit last week.Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen had issued opinions stating the proposed ballot language for the nonpartisan primary and abortion protection were insufficient.
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