The Montana Republican Party will drop out of a lawsuit that seeks to allow only GOP-registered voters to participate in its primary elections, but Republican committees in 10 counties plan to press forward with the case. The likelihood of ending Montana’s open-primary system through the lawsuit is low, based on previous court rulings against the party in the case, according to a statement attributed to the state party chairman, Billings Rep. Jeff Essmann. So the party’s executive board voted to seek to dismiss the case. “We hope that all parties to the matter will agree that there is no need for the expense of a trial to be incurred at this point,” Essmann said in the statement. The state party’s attorney will file a motion to dismiss the case, GOP spokesman Shane Scanlon said.
The state party is only one of 11 plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Montana’s open primaries. Matthew Monforton, a state representative and an attorney representing 10 GOP county central committees, said the case will continue without the state party.
“The state GOP’s abandonment weakens the case, but the county committees still have a viable claim,” Monforton said Thursday.
The primary system violates the Republicans’ First Amendment right to associate, the lawsuit alleges. The Republicans contend the system allows Democratic, independent or third-party voters to affect the outcome of their elections by voting for moderates, and that Republican candidates must alter their message to appeal to those crossover voters.
Full Article: State Republican Party to drop out of closed primary suit.