HELENA — Friday was a crucial deadline for advocates aiming to place ballot measures before Montana voters this year: the final day for them to submit tens of thousands of petition signatures to county election offices across the state. County officials will now review the signatures to determine which ones meet the necessary requirements.
“There are a significant number of signatures to review this year, spanning different ballot initiatives,” stated Connor Fitzpatrick, the election supervisor for Lewis and Clark County. “Our summer is definitely going to be busy.”
For ballot initiatives to proceed, a certain percentage of registered voter signatures is required. A statutory initiative demands 5% of the votes cast for governor in the previous election – currently at 30,180 – and the same 5% share in 34 of Montana’s 100 state legislative districts – 302 in each. Meanwhile, a state constitutional amendment mandates more than twice that amount: 10% statewide and in 40 districts, which are 60,359 and 604 respectively.
One of the highly discussed proposed measures, sponsored by Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, is Constitutional Initiative 128, aiming to amend the Montana Constitution to specifically include “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion.” The committee announced they had gathered over 117,000 signatures within just over two months.
Additionally, supporters of two proposed constitutional initiatives focused on reshaping Montana’s election system disclosed that they submitted over 200,000 signatures for CI-126 and CI-127. Counties now have four weeks to authenticate the submitted signatures and ensure they belong to registered voters within the respective county.
By July 19, all counties must forward the petitions and certified signatures to the Montana Secretary of State’s Office for final evaluation on which measures have met the requirements. Fitzpatrick mentioned that Lewis and Clark County will have personnel dedicated to verification over the upcoming weeks, with a possibility of additional help closer to the deadline.
Overall, seven proposed initiatives were approved to collect signatures this year. The other four include:
- Constitutional Initiative 124: Removing the Montana Supreme Court’s authority over State Bar admission
- Constitutional Initiative 125: Allowing a grand jury to convene based on voter petition percentage
- Initiative 192: Designating rodeo as Montana’s state sport
- Initiative 193: Preventing certain regulations that impede landowners from hunting on their private property
Election officials from major counties reported a lower number of petitions for these measures compared to the others.
