On February 4, the Montana House Administration Committee tabled HB 248. It would have moved the primary for all office from June to March. That would have caused the petition deadline for new parties to move from March of election years to December of the year before the election, It would also have moved the non-presidential independent candidate petition deadline from late May to late February.
The bill was sponsored by Representative Kelly Kortum (D-Bozeman). There is no state Democratic Party that is more hostile to ballot access than the Montana Democratic Party. Both in 2020 and 2018, Montana Democrats took extraordinary measures to keep the Green Party off the ballot.
What are the do or die command orders from Devil City to WIPE OUT A-L-L OPPOSITION — MAJOR OR MINOR ???
SCOTUS HACKS TOO EVIL PARTISAN STUPID TO DETECT *EQUAL* IN 14-1 AMDT ???
Montana’s unDemocratic Party is definitely a piece of work. But Illinois is a very close second when it comes to state unDemocratic Parties that are hostile towards ballot access. I know this from experience, especially last year as a part of the lawsuit trying to get covid-related ballot access relief.