Montanans’ right to vote is on the line
Montana’s secretary of state is Montana’s chief election officer, charged with ensuring free and fair elections. But Secretary Christi Jacobsen’s recent efforts to interfere with our right to vote is alarming and poses the danger of the proverbial fox guarding the hen house.
The secretary of state recently overturned decades of Montana practice and procedure. Without notice to the public, she unilaterally altered the state’s computer code to reject signatures on citizen petitions of lawfully registered Montana voters simply because they did not vote in the last election. It was a particularly nefarious move because she did so after the period to gather petitions had expired so that additional signatures could not be gathered.
Jacobsen’s actions put her political ambitions ahead of the rights of voters, as this sneaky attempt to defeat our constitutional right to put forth citizen initiatives was done solely for political gain.
This followed earlier efforts to derail the will of the voters on these same citizen initiatives. Thankfully, so far, Montana’s courts have stepped in and not allowed this middle of the night attempt to change the rules in the middle of the game in violation of Montanan’s basic constitutional rights.
Sadly, these actions to restrict our right to participate in government are part of a pattern. Just weeks ago, the secretary of state was vigorously defending three election laws passed last session by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The courts rejected her defense of these laws, finding that each of them unconstitutionally infringed on Montanan’s right to vote in free and fair elections.
It’s bad enough that the secretary of state sought to defend these unconstitutional laws, but after losing in the Montana Supreme Court, at taxpayer expense, she has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This is alarming for two reasons. First, it’s a frivolous appeal that has little chance of being heard and is grandstanding for political purposes at taxpayer’s expense. Second, Jacobsen claims in her filing to the U.S. Supreme Court that Montana’s courts have no authority to enforce Montana’s Constitution in election matters. In other words, according to the secretary of state, the Legislature can pass a law that removes any or all of our voting rights, and our courts would be powerless to stop it.
It’s difficult to understand how these secretary of state frontal assaults on Montana’s constitutional voting rights square with her oath to uphold Montana’s constitution. So, as legislators with oversight responsibility over election matters, we asked for an explanation at a recent committee hearing. She declined to appear or explain her actions.
Our right to propose citizen initiatives and our right to vote are two of the most fundamental ways that we can bring about change and respond to government interference in our lives. The secretary of state’s attacks on these basic rights should worry us all.
Reps. Kelly Kortum and Ed Stafman each represent parts of Gallatin County and serve on the State Administration Interim committee which has oversight responsibility over the secretary of state. Kortum is vice chair of that committee.