The ruling issued Tuesday afternoon puts the initiative back before voters in Butte Silver Bow County. If approved, it would require two-thirds of registered voters there to approve any new data centers.
The question landed in the courts after the discovery of a new, earlier deadline for collecting signatures to place measures on the ballot in Montana. Organizers of the campaign were informed of the change after initially being told they had collected enough signatures to place the question on the November ballot, well ahead of the old deadline under state law.
An initial lower court ruling allowed the measure to remain on the ballot, which was then overturned on appeal. While this ruling places the measure back on the ballot, the justices do say the court could come back and later the measure should not have gone before voters. However, the order goes on to say voters should be allowed to weigh in until that question is decided.
The initiative in Butte Silver Bow County is the only one on data centers that will go before Montana voters in November. A similar campaign in Yellowstone County ended with a court ruling that organizers had not gathered enough signatures at the time they were informed of the new, earlier collection deadline.