On September 18, the Montana Green Party filed this brief in U.S. District Court, in the party’s ballot access lawsuit. It challenges the strangely unequal distribution requirement for party petitions, and the early petition deadline. The case arose in 2018, after the party’s petition was rejected for not complying with the distribution requirement.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
The number of total votes cast in House districts for governor in 2016 varied from 2882 to 7248.
That is the true OMOV violation – that a vote for representative in some districts is worth 2.5 times as much as a vote in another district.
It is inane to expect to be able to get as many signatures in an area with 40% of the active voters.
It is truly insane to base the number of signatures on the votes received by the stastewide winner. In 2016, Bullock(D) defeated Gianforte(R) by 4%, a close statewide race. But the statewide race was closer than the district results in 93 of 100 districts. If the district quotas were based on Gianforte’s votes, they would have increased by as much as 95, and decreased by as much 105, and average change of 42.25 per district.
It would be less arbitrary if they rolled the dice to determine the number of signatures.
The primary filing fee in Montana is $15, which can be waived based on a claim of being penurious. Montana voters affiliate anonymously. It is moronic to maintain a system of segregated partisan primaries, along with high barriers to new parties or independent candidates. Montana legislative districts are small. It is feasible to campaign door-to-door at least in cities.