Montana: Court rejects appeal by group suing over Montana election laws | Billings Gazette

A federal appeals court has rejected a request by a tax-exempt organization to overrule a judge’s order that it must reveal certain information about itself in the group’s lawsuit challenging Montana’s election laws. Montanans for Community Development had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen’s ruling that it must answer questions or disclose documents about the group’s formation, operations, advertising and communications with candidates and other groups. The 9th Circuit ruled Tuesday that the group had not shown the case warrants the appeals court’s intervention.

Montana: Secretary of state discusses tribal letter on voting | Great Falls Tribune

The secretary of state on Monday said she would review a letter from the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council who are pressing her to establish satellite voting offices for Native Americans in 10 Montana counties. In a meeting with William “Snuffy” Main, Linda McCulloch said she is a “fan” of satellite offices and voting rights but could not give a definitive answer to the requests made in the letter as it had been in her possession less 24 hours. She said she was looking at the possibility of a directive but could not elaborate as to what the directive would say. Earlier this month, The Rocky Mountain Tribal leaders called on her to “issue a directive to Montana counties that have American Indian Reservations within their boundaries telling the counties that they must establish satellite voting offices for in-person absentee voting and later voter registration on those Indian Reservations within their boundaries for the 2016 general election. “

Montana: Purging Voters | Flathead Beacon

As the presidential primary race hits full gallop, the country’s constituents are paying a little more attention to politics and, perhaps, thinking about whether they are registered to vote, the process of which varies widely by state. Montana’s election rules made headlines in recent weeks, including when former Republican state lawmaker Corey Stapleton announced his bid for secretary of state and accused the current officeholder, Democrat Linda McCulloch, of “purging” thousands of voter files. “When both the elected officials and the media don’t talk about these things, bad things can happen,” Stapleton told the Associated Press.

Montana: Tribal leaders demand satellite voting offices | Great Falls Tribune

The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council is pressing Secretary of State Linda McCulloch to establish satellite voting offices for Native Americans in 10 Montana counties. A letter from the council is on its way to McCulloch, calling on her to “issue a directive to Montana counties that have American Indian Reservations within their boundaries telling the counties that they must establish satellite voting offices for in-person absentee voting and later voter registration on those Indian Reservations within their boundaries for the upcoming 2016 general election for the full 30 day late registration and absentee voting period, including election day.”

Montana: Court rejects appeal for full hearing on contribution limits | Helena Independent Record

A federal court has rejected Montana’s request to rehear its defense of state campaign contribution limits. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that none of its 44 judges moved to reconsider the case that the court already decided was tried on out-of-date standards. A panel of three federal judges ruled in May that a state District Court must re-examine the constitutionality of Montana’s contribution limits based on legal tests outlined in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling. “That last hearing was hasty, just before the (2012) election, and as you can see from this decision the legal standards it was reviewed by were murky,” Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said of the original decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell of Helena.

Montana: Deputy attorney general withdraws from closed primary case | The Missoulian

A deputy attorney general will no longer be defending the state in a Republican challenge to the state’s open primary elections after the party accused him of misconduct. Deputy Attorney General Jon Bennion, a Republican, filed a motion Friday to withdraw as counsel from the case. “I submit this notice of withdrawal in order to prevent future misunderstandings with the Montana Republican Party and to facilitate future communications,” Bennion said in court documents. Two other attorneys from Attorney General Tim Fox’s office will continue to defend the state in the case calling for primaries in which voters can only cast ballots for candidates in their own party.

Montana: Proposed electioneering rule addresses political attack ads | Bozeman Daily Chronicle

As part of the state’s new election disclosure law, Montana’s commissioner of political practices has proposed a rule aimed at attack ads masquerading as educational. It has become common for “social welfare” organizations to send postcards to voters or broadcast TV ads in the days before an election. State Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, has a pending political practices complaint against the Taxpayers for Liberty, the National Association for Gun Rights and American Tradition Partnership, among others, which includes examples of attack ads that would be considered electioneering under the new rule.

Montana: Taking control: Montana elections getting new disclosure rules | Bozeman Daily Chronicle

They sound about as exciting as buying tube socks, but proposed administrative rules will help put Montanans back in control of state elections after being overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, state officials believe. The rules, written by Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl and currently open for public comment, are meant to strengthen campaign disclosure requirements after the high court threw out Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act, a 1912 law that banned corporate political spending. The justices said such spending is a constitutionally protected form of speech. After the ruling, “social welfare” corporations — known by their IRS tax-exempt status 501©4, which don’t disclose their donors — began to hammer Montana candidates using “issue ads.”

Montana: Voting rights case inspires national legislation | Great Falls Tribune

A 120-mile round trip separates voters in Lame Deer from voting early and registering late, and Lame Deer is among the closest places on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation to Forsyth, the seat of Rosebud County. But the asphalt on Montana Highway 39 is just one way to measure the distance. “This journey has geographical and historical distances,” said Tom Rodgers, a tribal issues activist, member of the Blackfeet Nation and Jack Abramoff whistleblower. As South Carolina debates Confederate symbols, Rodgers thinks of symbols in Montana that also tell a story. “Names matter. History matters,” he said. “We have a county seat named after a man who was horribly anti-Native American, a man who killed 300 men, women and children at Wounded Knee. The fact that it hasn’t been remedied is wrong, wrong, wrong.”

Montana: New panel to consider redrawing Montana’s judicial districts for first time since 1929 | Associated Press

A newly appointed panel will consider whether to redraw Montana’s judicial districts for the first time in more than 80 years. Legislative leaders, Montana’s chief justice and other legal institutions picked the seven members of the Judicial Redistricting Commission ahead of a July 31 deadline. Montana has 22 judicial districts. They have been split, but not redrawn, since 1929. A state Supreme Court review last year identified major discrepancies in judges’ workloads from one district to another. Overall, the review found Montana’s 46 district court judges and four standing masters are meeting the caseload and travel demands of more than 65 people.

Montana: Court reverses ruling on campaign contribution limits | The Missoulian

States may cap political donors’ campaign contributions only if they can show that those limits are preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The ruling by a three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a Montana case could make it more difficult for states to defend their restrictions on the amount of money that individual donors give candidates in state elections. States can limit contributions if they have a legitimate interest in doing so. But proving that state interest has changed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case that said corporations can spend unlimited amounts in elections, a three-judge panel for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Montana: New campaign finance law praised, but some say it needs to be toughened | Montana Standard

National authorities are praising Montana’s new campaign finance law as a vast improvement over the state’s former law, but they say it still needs toughening up to end anonymous “dark money” spent by groups known as incidental committees. Campaign finance law experts at the Campaign Legal Center and National Institute on Montana in State Politics each were pleased that Montana passed the stronger law. Both expressed concern that it doesn’t require incidental committees to report their donors.

Montana: Bullock signs Montana campaign finance bill into law | Billings Gazette

Gov. Steve Bullock signed into law Wednesday a major bill to tighten Montana’s campaign finance laws to require anonymous so-called “dark money” groups to report how they are spending money in state political races. The Democratic governor signed the bill flanked by two Republicans, Sen. Duane Ankney of Colstrip, who sponsored the bill, and Rep. Frank Garner of Kalispell, who led the debate in the House. Later, a number of legislators who supported the bill and others who worked on it stood behind the governor and two lawmakers for another bill signing. “When it comes to Montanans as individuals having control of our elections, this is the most significant day in the last 112 years since Montanans passed the Corrupt Practices Act,” Bullock told a large crowd in the Governor’s Reception Room.

Montana: Republicans And Democrats Unite To Ban Dark Money | Huffington Post

The Montana legislature passed sweeping campaign finance legislation on Wednesday that will require the disclosure of all donors to any independent group spending money on state-level elections. The bipartisan Montana Disclose Act will effectively end the flood of “dark money” — electoral spending by nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors — that has plagued recent Montana elections. “Montana elections are about to become the most transparent in the nation, requiring those trying to influence our elections to come out of the dark money shadows,” Gov. Steve Bullock (D), who plans to sign the bill, said in a statement. “Our elections should be decided by Montanans, not shadowy dark money groups.”

Montana: 12 ballot measures introduced by Montana legislators before deadline | The Missoulian

One last-minute ballot measure affecting utility rates was introduced Wednesday, while backers decided not to pursue another referendum for “top-two” primary elections that was drafted and ready to go. Wednesday was the deadline for legislators to introduce statutory referendums or constitutional initiatives. A dozen bills have been introduced to ask voters in 2016 to approve laws or constitutional amendments, and they remain alive at the Legislature. Rep. Tom Woods, D-Bozeman, introduced House Bill 638. It’s a statutory referendum to deny a electric utility automatic rate changes to cover costs of a plant outage. Senate Republicans decided not to proceed with a referendum drafted for Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, which would have created the “top-two” primary election for certain offices.

Montana: Senate passes bill for to fill U.S. Senate vacancies | The Montana Standard

The state Senate on Tuesday endorsed a bill to require a special election for a U.S. Senate vacancy, as the law currently does for House vacancies, but it would allow the governor to appoint a temporary senator until the election occurs. Senate Bill 169, by Sen. Bradley Hamlett, D-Cascade, won approval on a 48-2 vote and will face a final Senate vote before heading to the House. In brief, here’s how the bill would work: If a vacancy occurs in the Senate, the Montana governor would immediately order a special election. The date of the election would vary depending when the vacancy occurred. It would allow the governor to make a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy until special election occurs. The governor’s temporary appointee to the Senate would have to be from the same political party as the person who vacated the job.

Montana: Committee tables electronic voter registration bill | Hungry Horse News

With a 10 to 10 vote, the House State Administration Committee tabled a bill that would have allowed electronic voter registration for qualified Montana electors. Introduced by the request of Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch and sponsored by Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, House Bill 48 would have allowed online voter registration to Montanans who possessed a valid Montana driver’s license or ID card, making it even more secure than the current paper registration form.

Montana: GOP legislators block campaign transparency bills in committee | Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Two bills in the state Legislature that would increase transparency in Montana politics are dead in committee after Republicans voted them down. It was a 4-3 party line vote last Friday in the Senate State Administration Committee with Republicans using their majority to defeat SB 86, which was introduced by state Sen. JP Pomnichowski, D-Bozeman. The bill’s intent is to provide the public with instant access to campaign finance reports and shine light on attack ad campaigns, Pomnichowski said. Electronic reporting is mandated by 36 states, according to the National Institute of Money in State Politics.

Montana: Election officials pitch online voter registration | Independent Record

State and local election officials endorsed a bill Wednesday to allow citizens to register to vote online if they have a valid Montana driver’s license or identification card. The House State Administrative heard testimony on House Bill 48, by Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, on behalf of Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, a Democrat. The committee didn’t take immediate action on the bill. Custer said the bill is for registering people with driver’s licenses and voter ID cards. The former longtime Rosebud County clerk and recorder said the system would be secure. McCulloch said HB48 would give people the choice of registering to vote between the current paper form or electronically. “Offering the ability to apply for voter registration online will increase transparency, accuracy and efficiency in the voter registration process,” said McCulloch, the state’s chief election official.

Montana: Secretary of State drops vote-by-mail bill | Montana Standard

Because of the lack of support, Secretary of State Linda McCulloch is dropping her bill to require nearly all Montana elections to be conducted by mail. McCulloch said Monday she asked Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, to pull the bill, which had been scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday before the House State Administration Committee. As secretary of state, McCulloch is the state’s chief election official. “In polling Democrats and Republicans, I couldn’t see that there was enough support for the bill,” McCulloch said. “I’m a real believer that you shouldn’t waste a Legislature’s time and money if a bill is not going anywhere.”

Montana: Changes afoot to tighten campaign finance reporting laws in Montana | The Missoulian

The first-time registration of a Missoula law firm as a political action committee appears to indicate a shift in the political landscape since the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The high court’s decision five years ago this month found independent expenditures by corporations are protected under the First Amendment, and it struck down a ban on those contributions. The Supreme Court subsequently found Montana’s ban on independent spending by corporations to be unconstitutional. Now, changes are afoot to tighten remaining campaign finance regulations in Montana, and Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl has been active in enforcing existing ones. “What we have left in Montana is reporting and disclosure,” Motl said.

Montana: GOP votes to join lawsuit closing primaries | Associated Press

After nearly three hours of comment and debate, Montana Republicans voted overwhelmingly Saturday to join a lawsuit seeking to limit their primary elections to those registered with the GOP. The Republican State Central Committee approved the motion by an 83-43 vote in Helena. They will join a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against the state and its open primaries. Filed by attorney and Rep. Matthew Monforton of Bozeman in September, the suit includes 10 Republican county central committees. It asks a federal judge to strike down as unconstitutional Montana laws allowing any registered voter to participate in any party primary.

Montana: McCulloch pitches vote-by-mail, other election bills | Montana Standard

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch again is asking legislators to pass a bill requiring all Montana elections to be conducted by mail, except for school elections. McCulloch, the state’s chief election official, said switching elections to mail ballot would increase voter turnout and save counties $2 million every two years. If it’s approved, Montana would join Colorado, Oregon and Washington as states where citizens vote by mail for most elections. “I feel if every voter could get a ballot in their hands, that would increase those who voted,” she said. “It was true in 2014.” In the November 2014, 88 percent of voters receiving absent ballots cast their votes, while only 36 percent of those who didn’t sign up for absentee voting actually turned out to vote. Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, is sponsoring House Bill 70 for McCulloch, a Democrat.

Montana: Gallatin County officials scratching heads after forgetting election | Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Three of the Gallatin Conservation District’s supervisors forgot to file for re-election when their terms expired in November, then tried to fix the situation by having their two colleagues appoint them to their old positions. At a meeting Dec. 18, supervisors Bill Wright, Sherwin Leep, and Jason Camp, whose terms had expired, were appointed to another four-year term by board chairman John Schutter and vice chairman John Venhuizen. “Most of us have been on that board for quite a number of years,” Leep told the Chronicle. “Our administrator there usually takes care of that for us and she inadvertently overlooked it … kind of a weird little circumstance.” Leep said it was as an honest mistake made by a small group of people, and pointed out that no other candidates had filed for the seats. “It’s not like there’s a large line of people trying to get on this board,” said Leep, who has been with the conservation district since 1985. “It’s not like we’re trying to exclude anyone.”

Montana: Recount process begins for state senate race | KECI

Missoula election workers started a recount in a state senate race too close to call. Missoula Republican Dick Haines trails Democrat Diane Sands by just 31 votes. The actual count hasn’t started yet. On Thursday, about 50 workers including county commissioners looked through ballots, checking for anything that might have made election machines fail to count the vote — things like coffee stains. It’s prep work for Friday’s actual count, which will take until Monday to have the results. The actual tally will cover some 8,000 ballots by hand. “This is a great opportunity for us to go back and show that everything we do, we do with respect of law and elections. Sometimes it feels like there is a veil or an iron veil, and people don’t really know what’s going on behind the scenes, so this is a great opportunity to show the public, show candidates, show citizens of Missoula that we’re doing everything right here in elections,” said Elections Administrator Rebecca Connors.

Montana: State Votes To Keep Same-Day Voter Registration | MTPR

Montanans rejected efforts to curb late voter registration Tuesday. The legislative referendum, LR-126, would have ended the ability for people to register to vote as late as Election Day, which has been allowed in Montana since 2006. With 78 percent of precincts in, the Associated Press reported that 56 percent had voted to keep same-day registration and 44 percent had voted to end it. The measure was sponsored by Sen. Alan Olson, a Republican from Roundup, who says he introduced it because late registrants cause problems for volunteers at polling places and create long lines.

Montana: Professors’ Research Project Stirs Political Outrage in Montana | New York Times

The only thing that three political scientists wanted to do was send mailers to thousands of Montana voters as part of a study of nonpartisan elections. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, judging from the outrage and a state investigation. It has also raised thorny questions about political science field research, which isn’t uncommon, and its ability to affect an election. The experiment, by the political scientists Adam Bonica and Jonathan Rodden of Stanford University and Kyle Dropp of Dartmouth College, sent mail to 100,000 Montana registered voters about two elections for the state’s supreme court. The Montana mailer, labeled “2014 Montana General Election Voter Information Guide,” featured the official state seal. It also placed the four judicial candidates on an ideological spectrum that included Barack Obama and Mitt Romney as reference points.

Montana: Stanford apologizes to Montana voters for ‘election guide’ | San Jose Mercury News

In an academic experiment gone awry, researchers at Stanford and Dartmouth Universities sent official-looking campaign mailers assessing the political leanings of candidates to voters in California, Montana and New Hampshire — a move that may have violated university policy and state laws. The universities were forced to apologize Tuesday to 100,000 Montana voters who received one of the mailers. Adorned with a state seal, it placed four Montana state Supreme Court justices running for nonpartisan offices on an ideological scale, comparing them to President Barack Obama and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. “Take this to the polls!” the guide says in large letters. That led Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch to file a complaint late last week with her state’s commissioner of political practices, saying the mailer appeared to violate several state laws.

Montana: Court to decide quickly on campaign law challenge | Associated Press

A group whose tax-exempt status allows it to keep its donors and spending secret is asking a federal appeals court to block several Montana laws regulating campaign contributions and expenditures before next Tuesday’s elections. An injunction request by Montanans For Community Development was rejected earlier this month and again Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen, who called the breadth of what the group was trying to do “staggering.” The group has now gone to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency injunction that would allow it to release ads that mention candidates in this year’s elections, without fear of being labeled a political organization. That designation would require Montanans For Community Development to disclose who is funding the group, and possibly open it to accusations of illegally coordinating with candidates.

Montana: Profs Bumble Into Big Legal Trouble After Election Experiment Goes Way Wrong | TPM

Political scientists from two of the nation’s most highly respected universities, usually impartial observers of political firestorms, now find themselves at the center of an electoral drama with tens of thousands of dollars and the election of two state supreme court justices at stake. Their research experiment, which involved sending official-looking flyers to 100,000 Montana voters just weeks before Election Day, is now the subject of an official state inquiry that could lead to substantial fines against them or their schools. Their peers in the field have ripped their social science experiment as a “misjudgment” or — stronger still — “malpractice.” What went so wrong? Last Thursday, the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices started receiving complaints from voters who had received an election mailer (see below) bearing the state seal and describing the ideological standing of non-partisan candidates for the Montana Supreme Court. The fine print said that it had been sent by researchers from Dartmouth College and Stanford University, part of their research into voter participation. But that wasn’t satisfactory for the voters who received the flyers or the state officials to whom they complained.