On April 8, the Montana Senate passed HB 120, the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill which contains two ballot access improvements. But because other parts of the bill had been amended in the Senate, the bill must now return to the House. The two ballot access improvements are: (1) moving the independent non-presidential petition deadline from March to May; (2) letting independent presidential and vice-presidential candidates appear on the ballot even if they had been closely associated with a political party during the recent period.
You hope they don’t try to add too much more to this bill. We know the Montana Republicans are working hard to eliminate the competition.