On March 28, the Montana House Administration Committee passed SB 270. The bill is now three-fourths of the way through the legislature. It moves the deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from June to March. Montana had a similar March independent candidate deadline between 1973 and 1990, but it was declared unconstitutional by a lower state court in 1990. The state had then appealed to the State Supreme Court, which voided the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiff lacked standing. Nevertheless, the State Supreme Court didn’t uphold the March deadline. There is a high likelihood that if this bill is signed into law, it will be ruled unconstitutional. Montana holds its primary in June.