A federal judge in Great Falls listened to arguments Tuesday for a lawsuit filed against the Secretary of State’s office to get third party names on the May special election ballot. Thomas Breck is the nominee for the Montana Green Party and Steve Kelly is the potential candidate for the Independent Party. The two along with Danielle Breck are challenging Montana’s ballot access laws for independent and minor party candidates. The trio says they didn’t have enough time to collect the required 14,268 signatures to get their names on the ballot under the special election deadlines. The filing fee for the May 25 special election is $1,740.
According to Montana State law independent and minor party candidates need to collect 5 percent of the total votes cast in the last general election for the successful candidate for the office being sought.
Thomas and Danielle Breck are both registered to vote in Missoula County. Danielle said she would like to have the opportunity to vote for Thomas in the May 25 special congressional election.
Full Article: Federal court to decide Montana ballot lawsuit – NBC Montana.