Special election continues to be mired in confusion

“What is better for democracy than to put a ballot in the hands of every registered voter?” was the prominent headline on an April 7 press release by Governor Steve Bullock. He issued an amendatory veto to House Bill 83, and added language that would allow counties to conduct the special Congressional election by automatic absentee mailing.

“We can and should help people participate in our democracy by streamlining government and saving taxpayer’s money,” said Gov. Bullock during a press conference. “I take seriously my responsibility to strengthen our democracy by helping make sure that more eligible citizens can participate in that democracy-not fewer. And what is better for democracy than to put a ballot in the hands of every registered voter?”

If the amendatory veto is upheld by the Legislature, every voter will be mailed an absentee ballot for the May 25 election. A mail ballot election is projected to save counties $750,000 and alleviate the difficulties of finding physical locations for precincts, a challenge created by the fact that this election is taking place at an unusual time, the article stated.

Earlier in the session, Senate Bill 305 passed in the Senate which would allow counties to decide if they wanted to hold an all-vote-by mail election. However, the House Judiciary Committee indefinitely tabled it. Then, Rep. Geraldine Custer R-Forsyth, tried to “blast” the bill. This motion was an attempt to revive the bill, however, this was defeated in the House.

As the election date rapidly approaches, counties are scrambling to figure out how to handle the voting process. Mineral County Election Administrator, Staci McGrew, is currently contacting election judges and that all three of Superior’s precincts will be at one polling place to help save costs. If the amendment passes, McGrew said the polling place will be in the Elections office at the courthouse. If the mail ballot is defeated, there will be one polling place in Alberton, St. Regis, Superior and DeBorgia.

Another challenge facing the special election is a lawsuit. Thomas and Danielle Beck and Steve Kelly are potential candidates with the Montana Green Party and Independent Party. They filed a lawsuit with Secretary of State Corey Stapleton’s office on March 22 to get their names on the special election ballot.

Their claim is that they did not have enough time to collect the required 14,268 signatures needed to get their names on the ballot. According to Montana state law, independent and minor party candidates need to collect five percent of the total votes cast at the last general election for the successful candidate for the office being sought. They had around six days to collect the signatures.

Early Saturday morning, April 8, the U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris issued an order in the lawsuit and replaced the 14,268 signatures with 400, for this election only. However, the candidates had failed to meet the minimal requirement in order to qualify for the ballot. Therefore, the Court declined to order their names be added to the ballot later that day.

In a statement released on Sunday, Stapleton said, “I’m encouraged that we have some clarity for the upcoming special election as our clerks are busy preparing ballots and lining up election judges for polling places. With just six weeks to go, it’s important that we preserve the Montana way of holding elections – and that means giving voters the option to vote by mail or at the polls, and keeping a high level of integrity with high voter turnout. At this point, we’re proceeding with the understanding that we have three candidates on the ballot for the U.S. Congressional election.”

However, by 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, county election officials received another notice from Derek Oestreicher, Director of Elections and Voter Services, to not mail out ballots on Monday.

“The Plaintiffs have filed an appeal of Judge Morris’ order to the Ninth Circuit, and they have advised that they will also be filing an Emergency Motion for Stay with the Ninth Circuit as well,” stated Oestreicher.

He went on to state that they are working to set up a conference call with the U.S. Department of Defense Federal Voter Assistance Program and the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday morning to discuss the implications of the pending appeal.

Though she hasn’t received an invoice yet, McGrew estimates the ballots to cost around $2,000 to print per run. The military ballots are scheduled to be sent on Monday, April 10. McGrew said that if ballots need to be reprinted and sent later, military voters could request the ballot be emailed to them. They could also vote via email and their ballot would be received in time for the May 25 election. However, if they do not have access to email, they may not be able to respond in time.