The Montana Supreme Court will not intervene in a case over which signatures count toward citizen ballot petitions.
The Attorney General’s office asked the court to take over the case after a district court judge ordered the Montana Secretary of State to count inactive voters as qualified electors. Inactive voters are registered voters who have not participated in the last two federal elections.
The state says the district court’s conclusion is incorrect and overstepped its authority by extending a deadline to count signatures. The state argued it needed an urgent remedy.
The state’s high court disagreed. In a unanimous ruling, the high court wrote that Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s actions led to the time-sensitive lawsuit when she changed her office’s guidance. That guidance came two weeks into the county process and told county officials to reject inactive voter signatures.
The court also noted that the state’s attorney’s helped craft the order the district court judge signed. Both parties will have another opportunity to make arguments in court on Friday.
