Montana’s primary in 2012 is on June 5. Parties entitled to nominate by primary are the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Americans Elect Parties. When filing closed for this year’s primary, two Libertarians had filed to run for U.S. Senate in the Libertarian Party.
On March 20, Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch ruled that the Libertarian Party may not have a primary this year, and that she will print the names of both Libertarians on the November ballot. She made this decision, based on section 13-10-209(2). Before 2005, that section said, “It is not necessary to print a primary ballot for a political party which does not have candidates for more than half of the offices on the ballot in even-year elections if no more than one candidate files for nomination by that party for any of the offices on the ballot.”
In 2005, that section was amended to say, “An election administrator does not need to prepare a primary ballot for a political party if: (a) the party does not have candidates for more than half of the offices to appear on the ballot; or (b) no more than one candidate files for nomination by that party for any of the offices to appear on the ballot.”
Some Montana Libertarians have suggested that the Secretary of State allow the party to nominate a candidate for U.S. Senate by convention, but the Secretary of State rejected that idea. This year the Libertarian Party does have candidates for five of the nine statewide partisan races on the ballot, but it does not have candidates for a majority of legislative races. Montana does permit write-ins in primaries. The Secretary of State says it would cost $380,000 to print Libertarian primary ballots. Because Montana doesn’t have registration by party, election officials can’t know how many voters would request a Libertarian primary ballot, so election officials say they would need to print as many Libertarian primary ballots as are printed for the major parties. See this story.
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Perhaps one of the candidates can withdraw.
Why would anybody withdraw when the filling fee is over 1,700 dollars.
Just so there would only be one LP nominee. It would be pretty much the same as nominating by convention if LP members made a choice between the two and the loser then agrees to withdraw.
There are 9 patisan statewide offices up for elections. Libertarians have 5 of those filled, so they should have a primary. One candidate shouldn’t have to drop out. It will cost Montana over one-million dollars for this primary, yet the SoS won’t talk about those costs.
The change in 2005 (HB 177) was to replace the *and* with *or*.
So before 2005, a ballot was not printed if there were no contested races, except when the party had candidates for most offices. So if the Constitution Party, for example, only had an uncontested senate nomination, it was not necessary to print a ballot.
It is unclear what the intent of the change was, since it was made in an omnibus election bill. The bill title says the purpose was to “clarify” the conditions.
Perhaps the concern was that a minor party might file one candidate for most offices, and that this would compel printing of primary ballots even though no races were contested.
Or maybe it was in response to a year with the mid-term elections. Montana elects its executive officers in presidential election years, so in 2010 the only statewide partisan office was the single US House seat (Montana did not elect a US Senator in 2010).
Most likely they goobered the law, because it is expressed in a negative manner (ie when are ballots not to be printed). If it had been expressed in a positive manner, it would have been a lot easier to understand the conditions when you would print a ballot.
The law specifically refers to ballot in the singular, and it is the “election administrator” who prepares the ballot. Election administrator is specifically defined in Montana law as the county clerk or other official who prepares the ballot in their county. So in the pre-2005 form, if a minor party had a contested legislative race, a party primary ballot would be printed in a few counties, even though the statewide offices were not contested.
There are only 8 statewide partisans offices on the primary ballot (US Senator, US House, Governor&Lt.Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Clerk of the Supreme Court). The presidential preference election does not count. 13-10-209 has a specific reference to the statewide primary (13-1-107(1)), and the provision for a presidential preference primary says it should be held on the same date. Further, it is not a nominating contest, particularly under Montana law which defines it as pure beauty contest.
So Libertarians have 5 candidates for the 8 statewide offices (6 of 9 if the joint of office of Governor and Lieutenant Governor is counted as two – in Montana, the two candidates run as a tandem in the primary so I would count it as 2).
1/2 of the senate seats are up, all of the house seats, and 3 of 5 public service commissioners (PSC).
So in any areas where there are not a state senate or PSC race, the Libertarians are running for at least 5 of 9 partisan offices on the ballot in those areas. And in areas where they have a legislative candidate they have 6 or 7 of 9, 10, or 11.
Montana has an extreme level of home rule in county government structure, where they can choose to have non-partisan or partisan elections, appointed or elected, overlapping or concurrent terms, and various term lengths, so I’m not sure that any county elections can count towards the number of partisan offices on the ballot.
Write-in candidates are candidates, and they must file 10 days before absentee ballots are made available. So there is no reason not to consider them to be candidates for purposes of printing a ballot on which their name could be written in.
So at least in certain areas, a Libertarian ballot must be printed. But that would mean that only the voters in certain areas could voter for the senate nominee, which is a clear equal protection violation since the State is conducting the primary.
The intent of having the SOS place candidates on the general election ballot is not so that she can place all candidates on the ballot in case there is no primary, but to provide a formal certification of the candidates. If there is a primary, there is a canvass, and in Montana it is the canvassing board that certifies the candidates for the general election ballot. If there is not a primary, then someone else, (the SOS under Montana law) is doing the certification, just as she does for independent candidates.
By not holding a primary, Montana is violating the equal protection of Libertarian-minded Montana voters. Montana has decided that they don’t want party bosses making nominations, and they require larger parties to nominate by primary. They’re denying the right to participate in the nomination process to these voters.
It also makes it harder for the Libertarian Party to retain their qualified status, and harder to win the race. Having two Libertarian candidates is beneficial to the Secretary of STate’s party.
By the Secretary of State’s “logic”, the reason that a Democratic primary ballot is being printed is not because there are 7 candidates for the US House nomination (the incumbent is running for the US Senate), but because the Democrats have 5 uncontested statewide nomination “races”, including one where she is running for nomination.
Do you believe that she would place 7 Democratic candidates on the ballot for the US Representative but for the fact that the Democrats have unopposed nominations Clerk of the Supreme Court, Auditor, and Secretary of State?
The 2005 change in the law is inexplicable, and the current version is nonsensical. It violates equal protection in numerous ways. And even if the law is literally applied, there should be areas of the state where a Libertarian ballot must be prepared.
It is unlikely that the Secretary of State would make the same decision if it were her party that faced having 7 candidates in the general election.
BTW, I don’t think voters request a party ballot, but are given all the ballots, and then vote only one.
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