On May 25, 2012, a U.S. District Court struck down Montana’s March petition deadline for independent candidates (other than presidential independents) to get on the ballot. The state did not appeal.
The deadline for Montana legislators to submit bill ideas to the bill-drafting office has now passed, and no legislator has introduced a bill to replace the old, void deadline. However, Montana legislators are permitted to introduce two bills beyond this deadline, so it is still possible a bill on this subject will be introduced in 2013.
I’d like to force every state legislator in Montana to stand out in the cold winter weather collecting signatures on petitions for the next few weeks. If they had to do this, I bet that they’d change the law pretty darn quickly.
Actually, have them move their legislative sessions from inside the Montana state capital building to outside in the cold. Tell them that they can come back inside after they change the ballot access deadline to a date where most of the petition signatures can be collected in warm weather. I bet that this would get them to change the dead line really quickly as well.
Good idea. Too bad it won’t happen.