HELENA — Friday marked a significant deadline for advocates in Montana, as it was the last day for them to submit tens of thousands of petition signatures to county election offices across the state in an effort to get ballot measures before voters this year. Now, county officials have the task of reviewing the signatures to determine which ones meet the necessary requirements.
“There’s a lot of signatures to look at this year, a lot of different ballot initiatives,” said Connor Fitzpatrick, election supervisor for Lewis and Clark County. “So yeah, our summer is not going to be quiet.”
For various types of initiatives to make it onto the ballot, a set percentage of registered voter signatures is required. A statutory initiative needs 5% of the votes cast for governor in the last election – currently 30,180 – as well as the same 5% share in 34 of Montana’s 100 state legislative districts – 302 in each. A state constitutional amendment requires more than twice that: 10% statewide and in 40 districts – 60,359 and 604, respectively.
On Friday, the committee supporting one of the most discussed proposed measures announced that they had gathered nearly double the minimum number of signatures needed. Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights is behind Constitutional Initiative 128, which aims to amend the Montana Constitution to explicitly include “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion.” The committee reported collecting over 117,000 signatures in just over two months.
Earlier in the month, supporters of two proposed constitutional initiatives that would alter Montana’s election system indicated they had submitted more than 200,000 signatures for both initiatives. Montanans for Election Reform is advocating for CI-126, which would establish a top-four primary, and CI-127, which would mandate election winners to secure at least 50% of the vote.
Counties now have four weeks to review the petitions and confirm the validity of the signatures. Each signer must be a registered voter in the county where their signature was submitted. Officials will also ensure that the signatures match the ones on file for the voter.
“We check every signature that’s in your record based on all the forms that you’ve ever submitted to an elections office,” said Fitzpatrick.
Signatures can be challenged during the verification process.
By July 19, all counties must send the petitions and certified signatures to the Montana Secretary of State’s Office, which will make the final determination on which measures met the requirements.
Fitzpatrick stated that Lewis and Clark County will have two full-time employees and two temporary workers handling verification over the next few weeks.
“We’re going to have to keep an eye on that, and we might have to end up bringing in a few more people to help push this across the finish line as we get closer to the July 19 deadline,” he said.
Seven proposed initiatives received approval to gather signatures this year, including the following four:
· Constitutional Initiative 124, which would eliminate the Montana Supreme Court’s oversight of admission to the State Bar.
· Constitutional Initiative 125, which would enable a grand jury to convene with a certain percentage of a county’s voters signing a petition.
· Initiative 192, which would designate rodeo as Montana’s state sport.
· Initiative 193, which would prevent the state from implementing certain regulations that hinder landowners from hunting deer, elk, or black bears on their private property.
Election officials in several of Montana’s largest counties informed MTN that they received significantly fewer petitions for those measures compared to the others.
