Sanders County GOP joins lawsuit

SANDERS COUNTY – The Sanders County GOP recently joined a lawsuit against open primary elections within the state of Montana.

The central committee within the Sanders County GOP joined GOP central committees from Gallatin, Stillwater, Dawson and Ravalli County in the push for closed primaries to be instituted in Montana.

The Ravalli County Republican Central Committee originally filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Helena last month on Sept. 8.

The central committees representing the Republican Party in Sanders, Gallatin, Stillwater and Dawson counties joined the suit last week on Tuesday, Sept. 30, brining the total number of counties involved in the suit up to five.  

According to attorney Matthew Monforton of Bozeman, who filed a motion amending the original suit to include the four additional counties as plaintiffs in the case, the suit centers around abuse of the primary system currently in place throughout the state.

“We don’t like the fact democrats are abusing the open primary system,” Monforton said.

The lawsuit alleges that the current system in place, which allows registered voters in the state of Montana to vote in any party primary throughout the election process, is unconstitutional.

According to Monforton the current system violates the First Amendment associated rights of republican voters in the state.

Monforton emphasized the importance of having a system in place to allow Republican voters to select the leadership of their party and Democrat voters to do the same for their elected officials.

Montana is currently one of 14 states, which utilizes an open primary system for the state’s primary elections. 12 states employ a mixed form of the open primary system and 24 states currently hold their primary elections under a closed system.

Monforton said the current system has been in use for years and needs to be brought up to speed with the realities of contemporary politics.

“The state has used the open primary system for around 100 years,” Monforton said.

Monforton is optimistic the Republican central committees of other Montana counties will join in the excisting suit stating he had already received authorization from other counties to add their names to the lawsuit.

Montana republicans aren’t the first in the northwest portion of the country to challenge the existing open primary system in place in their state.

In 2008 the Idaho Republican Party began proceedings to move from similar open primary laws to a closed primary system for the state’s primary elections.

Legal proceedings for this litigation wrapped up a few years later in 2011, when a federal court decision in the U.S. District Court in Idaho ruled in favor of the republicans and the Idaho State Legislature subsequently passed House Bill 351 enacting a closed primary system for Idaho primary elections.

Monforton is aware the process surrounding the Montana suit may take a substantial amount of time and wasn’t sure on an exact time frame for the case.

The state of Montana has held open primary elections since 1912.

Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch is named as the defendant for the lawsuit.