Montana’s Attorney General asked the state Supreme Court to take over a case about who can sign issue ballot petitions. Those signatures are under a deadline to be counted.
Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Mike Menahan on Tuesday ordered Montana elections’ officials to accept signatures from inactive voters in support of proposed ballot initiatives. That overrules Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s guidance to reject those signatures.
Menahan agreed with two groups backing initiatives to protect abortion access and amend election law who sued the state. They argue that a citizen can be both a registered, qualified elector and also inactive if they haven’t voted in a couple of elections. Montana election officials in the past have counted inactive voters in support of initiatives.
The Secretary’s office says that’s illegal.
The Attorney General’s office asked the Montana Supreme Court to intervene. The state says the court’s conclusion is incorrect and oversteps its authority by extending the deadline for counties to count signatures.
The Attorney General’s office helped craft the order with the plaintiffs’ attorneys that Menahan signed. The judge said he didn’t want to cause more confusion and asked them to write the order.
