WASHINGTON, DC – RITE is returning to the Montana Supreme Court in support of the state’s commonsense voting laws, including a paid ballot harvesting ban and voter photo ID law. On Monday, RITE filed its second friend of the court brief in this case, Montana Democratic Party v. Jacobsen, arguing that state and federal law gives the state’s legislature ample authority to enact legislation that regulates the voting process.
As RITE explained, absent a grave burden imposed upon the fundamental rights of Montana’s citizens, the courts should not second-guess lawmakers working to protect the integrity and efficiency of the voting process. Doing so is undemocratic and harmful to the voter confidence that lies at the foundation of our elections. Under the proper analysis, policies like photo voter ID are clearly lawful. Unfortunately, at the urging of activist plaintiffs, a lower court applied the wrong legal standard and struck down four democratically enacted voting laws, dissolving the power of Montana voters to regulate their own elections. RITE is working to correct that error.
“This case is another example of activists trying to undermine state election laws,” said Derek Lyons, President and CEO of RITE. “Their legal argument is inconsistent with state and federal law and fails to recognize the appropriate role of elected legislators in administering elections. This is an intentional effort to undo democratically enacted election safeguards that voters want and believe are important to their ultimate confidence in the electoral process. The courts should not allow themselves to be made a party to this partisan, undemocratic agenda.”
The case began in 2021 when plaintiffs, including those backed by activist attorney Marc Elias, challenged four Montana laws: HB176, setting a registration deadline of noon the day before election day; SB169, establishing that student IDs may not be used as the primary ID for voting; HB530, eliminating for-hire ballot harvesting; and HB506, prohibiting absentee ballots from being sent to individuals before they become eligible to vote.
As RITE argues in its amicus brief, these laws do not violate any Montanan’s right to vote. The district court’s contrary conclusion is built on a fundamental legal error that required that the Montana legislature prove that any measures to enhance the integrity of voting must not only be reasonable but also absolutely necessary. Unless corrected, this legal error would tie the hands of the Montana legislature from revisiting novel election initiatives like ballot harvesting, ballot drop boxes, and no-excuse absentee balloting that may have fallen out of favor with the citizens of the state. That is not the law in Montana or anywhere else.
Most U.S. states, like Montana, have implemented a voter photo ID requirement. State and federal courts across the country have ruled in favor of such requirements, as well as efforts to curb ballot harvesting. RITE is working to ensure Montana does not become an outlier by entrenching into its constitution experimental voting initiatives that lack democratic support.
###
