Missoula County elections administrator Bradley Seaman says all counties reject some ballots every election cycle.
“So we’ve got basically three reasons: no signature, mismatch, or birth year,” Seaman says.
New this fall is that last item. State law now requires mail-in voters to write their birth year in addition to their signature.
As of Monday, the county had rejected more than 600 ballots, the vast majority of which had an incorrect or missing birth year. That’s a rejection rate of more than 3%.
And Missoula isn’t alone. Yellowstone County reported a 5% rejection rate — far more than its usual 1%. Rejections were also up in Flathead and Gallatin counties as of Monday.
Seaman says the law requires counties to send a letter to voters whose ballots are declined.
“But in Missoula county, we know how critical every vote is. In that last 2023 election, it came down to a dead tie,” Seaman says. “So, we want to make sure that voters know you can resolve that.”
Counties will usually call and email a voter with a rejected ballot. That voter can then either fill out a form to verify their existing ballot, or request a new ballot to revote.
In a statement, the Montana Secretary of State’s office said it’s been running public service announcements on the new birth year requirement. Voters can track their ballot at voterportal.mt.gov.
