Ballot Issues
The Legislature may pass bills in order to
- Refer a proposed law to the voters through a legislative referendum, or
- Send a proposed constitutional amendment to the voters.
Any individual or group may petition to
- Enact a law by
initiative,
- Approve or reject an act of the legislature by referendum, or
- Amend the state constitution.
Anyone planning to propose a ballot issue should contact the Commissioner of Political Practices to get information on the financial reporting requirements.
A member of the public proposing a ballot issue must follow certain steps:
Drafting a Ballot Issue
1. First a draft of the proposed ballot issue must be submitted to the Secretary of State's Office for review. This draft must include the text of the ballot issue, as well as draft ballot statements (the statement of purpose and the "For" and "Against" statements to appear on the ballot). The standard form such issues and statements must take is included in Title 13, Chapter 27 of the Montana Code Annotated (13-27-204 through 13-27-207) and in Senate Bill 96, passed in the 2007 Legislature.
2. The Secretary of State forwards the text and statements to the Legislative Services Division. This agency reviews the proposal for clarity and consistency, and for conformity with its bill drafting manual and for other legal requirements, and, if necessary, makes recommendations for revisions within 14 days of submission of the text and statements.
3. The individual proposing the ballot issue then must respond in writing to Legislative Services, either accepting, rejecting, or modifying any revisions.
4. After step #3 is completed, the individual proposing the ballot issue must send the final text and ballot language to the Secretary of State, who forwards a copy of the proposed ballot issue to the Attorney General's Office.
The Attorney General completes a legal review and may prepare statements that comply with applicable requirements. Within 30 days of when he receives the draft, the Attorney General must forward the legal review of the ballot issue to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State will notify the individual proposing the ballot issue of either the approval or rejection of the ballot issue. Once notification is received from the Secretary of State that the ballot issue is approved, it may be circulated for signature gathering.
The earliest date to circulate petitions for signatures for 2010 ballot issues is June 18, 2009.
The earliest date to submit signed ballot issue petitions to county election administrators for 2010 ballot issues (other than for initiative referendum petitions referring an act of the 2009 Legislature) is October 16, 2009.
Collecting Signatures
1. To qualify an initiative or referendum for the ballot, 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 house districts must be obtained (a total of 24,337 signatures for the 2010 ballot).
To qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot, 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 house districts must be obtained (a total of 48,674 signatures for the 2010 ballot).
2. A person gathering signatures for an initiative, referendum, or to call a constitutional convention must be a resident, as provided in 1-1-215, MCA , of the state of Montana, and may not be paid anything of value based on the number of signatures gathered.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. You may post petitions on the Internet. The posting must include a statement that the petition format may not be modified.
6. Each sheet or section of up to 25 sheets of a petition must include an affidavit from the signature gatherer who was present at the time each elector signed the petition.
7. As signatures are gathered, each petition must be submitted to the election administrator in the county in which the signatures were gathered for verification of the signatures. The deadline for petition signatures to be received by county election administrators is June 18, 2010.
8. County election administrators must send all certified petitions to the Secretary of State's Office so that they are received before 5 p.m. on July 16, 2010 .
9. The Secretary of State's Office tallies the signatures and determines if they are sufficient to qualify the issue for placement on the ballot.
Making a Case
1. The sponsor of the ballot issue will be asked to prepare an argument in support of the issue for use in the official state Voter Information Pamphlet, published by the Secretary of State. Certain elected officials will choose individuals to prepare an argument against the issue, and then each side will have the opportunity to provide a rebuttal. Argument and rebuttal factual statements must be supported by documents filed with the Secretary of State within 2 business days of the date on which the arguments and rebuttals are required to be filed.
2. If the ballot issue passes, it becomes part of state law or the state constitution.
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