Voting

A group of Cascade County residents, including a former county commissioner, announced the formation of an ad-hoc committee to monitor upcoming special elections. The committee formed after the Cascade County elections administrator last month said her office would face difficulty administering five upcoming special elections.

Cascade County’s elections administrator was the subject of a withering line of questions and criticism Friday about upcoming local special elections.

A Gallatin County election official says a large number of voters dropping off absentee ballots in person on Election Day is partly why it took longer to count ballots.

Just over half of registered absentee voters in Montana have returned their ballots for the midterm election as of noon Monday.

It’s now too late for Montanans to mail in absentee ballots for the Nov. 8 midterm election. To ensure ballots get counted on time, voters should drop them off at their local county elections office.

Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s allegations against recent courtroom rivals was dismissed as “frivolous.”

A record number of people are registered to vote in Montana, and thousands have already cast their ballot.

The laws would have ended Election Day voter registration, changed voter ID requirements, and banned paid ballot collection. They are now permanently blocked from going into effect.

The ruling comes amid multi-pronged election administration litigation and also blocks new voter ID requirements adopted by the 2021 Montana Legislature.

The future of three new Montana election laws is in the hands of a state judge. Attorneys recently concluded nine days of arguing over the laws' possible benefits and harms.