Ballot Issues

Any individual or group may petition to

1. enact a law by initiative,
2. approve or reject an act of the legislature by referendum, or
3. amend the state constitution.

In all of these cases, you must follow certain steps in order to get an issue on the ballot.

Drafting a Petition

1. First you must submit a draft of the proposed ballot measure to the state Legislative Services Division for review. The standard forms such measures must take are included in Title 13, Chapter 27 of the Montana Code Annotated (13-27-204 through 13-27-207).

2. Legislative Services reviews the proposal for clarity and consistency and, if necessary, makes recommendations for changes.

3. Once you have responded to the recommendations of Legislative Services have agreed on the language of the petition, you must submit it to the Secretary of State's Office.

4. The Secretary of State forwards a copy of the petition to the Attorney General's Office, and both agencies review the proposed ballot issue. The Secretary of State's office makes sure that the form of the petition is acceptable, while the Attorney General's Office checks it for legality.

5. The Secretary of State notifies you of either the approval or rejection of the petition, or the conditional approval if there are any technical defects that need to be corrected.

6. Once the petition is approved, you may begin circulating it to collect signatures.

Collecting Signatures

1. To qualify an initiative or referendum for the ballot, you must get the signatures of 5 percent of the total number of qualified voters in the state, including 5 percent of the voters in each of 34 legislative districts (currently a total of 22,308 signatures). 

To qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot, you must get the signatures of 10 percent of the total number of qualified voters in the state, including 10 percent of the voters in each of 40 legislative districts (currently a total of 44,615 signatures).

2. Only registered voters may sign ballot issue petitions, and they must sign their name substantially the same way as they did on their voter registration card.

3. No one may knowingly sign a petition for the same ballot measure more than once or sign another person's name to a petition. Anyone who does so may be fined or sentenced to jail time.

4. You may post petitions on the Internet. The posting must include a statement that the petition format cannot be modified in any way.

5. As signatures are gathered, each petition must be submitted to the election administrator in the county in which the signatures were gathered. The election administrator verifies the signatures.

6. Election administrators must certify all submitted petitions to the Secretary of State's Office before 5 p.m. on the third Friday of the fourth month preceding the election.

7. The Secretary of State's Office tallies the gathered signatures and, if there are enough, the issue qualifies for the ballot.

Making a Case

1. As the sponsor of the ballot measure, you'll be asked to prepare an argument in support of the issue for use in the official state voter-information pamphlet, which is published by the Secretary of State. Certain elected officials will choose someone to prepare an argument against the measure.

2. If the ballot measure passes, it becomes part of state law or the state constitution.