Officials tout progress with new statewide election software

After putting Montana’s new election management software through the paces in a series of local elections this year, state officials appeared confident last week that the system will be ready for the flurry of statewide primary and general election activity next year.

Appearing before the Legislature’s Interim State Administration and Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Nov. 9, elections manager Stuart Fuller of the Montana secretary of state’s office said implementation of the new ElectMT software has been “going well” in 2023. He acknowledged that county election administrators have encountered bugs in the system, and that the system’s developer — St. Louis-based election software firm KNOWiNK — has made routine changes in response to feedback. But overall, Fuller told lawmakers, he gets “way more positive comments [from local officials] than I do negative comments.”

“We’ve been working with the county election administrators to prioritize any bugs or fixes or feature requests that they have so we can get those ready to go,” Fuller said.