Twenty-three voter records in Montana have been confirmed as potential instances of non-citizens registering to vote and casting ballots in the state, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

In a Tuesday press release, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen said her office had utilized the SAVE tool — an online service administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security — which allows government agencies to verify immigration status and U.S. citizenship of individuals registered to vote, the first time Montana election officials have been able to verify citizenship of voters.

The SAVE tool had flagged 23 state voter records earlier this year, which USCIS confirmed as belonging to individuals “appear in non-citizen status,” according to Jacobsen.

“For the first time in state history, election officials are able to verify citizenship of Montana’s voter rolls, and at no cost,”Jacobsen said. “The federal government’s SAVE tool is producing results.”

Jacobsen said in the news release a review of the 23 flagged voter records indicated “nearly 150 ballots were cast in Montana elections,” and that several voters had participated in signature-gathering processes for petitions.

A spokesperson for Jacobsen’s office did not return questions from the Daily Montanan asking over what years the 150 ballots were cast in, what counties they were registered to vote in, or what the next steps of contacting individuals or bringing charges would look like.

Jacobsen had previously touted the SAVE Tool as a partnership between Montana and the Trump administration in a series of postcards sent out by her office that have raised complaints with the Commission of Political Practices over the use of tax dollars, since dismissed, and numerous questions from lawmakers.

The press release also announced that a non-citizen had come forward and requested cancellation of their voter registration, which Jacobsen said occurred after the office “provided public outreach to Montanans … announcing that election officials would begin verifying the citizenship of the state’s voter registration list.”

“Montana has made it clear: Only citizens should be allowed to register and vote, and non-citizen voting will not be tolerated,” Jacobsen said. “Anyone illegally on Montana’s voter rolls should follow this individual’s example – come forward and cancel your illegal voter registration.”

Under Montana law, to be eligible to vote, people need to be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old before the election, and a Montana resident for at least 30 days before the next election.

State, federal focus on citizen voting

While Montana has been scrutinizing its voter roles, there has been a standoff between many states and the federal government, which has requested information related to voting records be turned over to the Trump administration.

Montana is one of the state’s that has denied providing confidential information, such as Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers, but has provided public voter records.

Nationally, the issue of non-citizen voting has swept the halls of Congress, and the U.S. Senate on Tuesday has taken up a contentious voter ID bill, known as the SAVE America Act, which passed the House on nearly party lines last month.

The SAVE America Act is an elections bill aimed at restricting voter registration by requiring voters prove citizenship with documents such as a passport or birth certificate. GOP proponents of the bill say it will provide safeguards to ensure only U.S. citizens vote, while opponents, mostly Democrats, say that it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote, and that the stringent requirements will disenfranchise million of Americans who do not have passports or access to other allowable documents.

In a press call on Tuesday opposing the federal SAVE America Act, former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, pointed out that while voter fraud is extremely rare in the country and almost no one can point to real-world examples of problems, he actually knows about one of the few cases where it might have impacted an election — right here in Montana.

In 2021, two Filipino women on work visas were teaching in Dodson, Montana, a town with a population that hovers just over 100 residents. The two women voted in the 2021 mayoral race, which was won by only two votes.

Charges were brought against the two women, who pleaded not guilty.

But political scientists at the time said the instance was “a unicorn,” representing one of the rare documented cases where an election with just 40 voters could possible be effected by instances of voter fraud.

On the call, Schweitzer said he had made it easy for Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who is a leading opponent of the SAVE America Act, to convince her fellow lawmakers to concern themselves with “Oh, I don’t know, some other things that actually affect America.”

“Like the 60,000 women that were assaulted sexually last year, or the 10,000 students that were assaulted by people that worked at their schools,” Schweitzer said. “Or, let’s get closer to home, the 3000 cattle that were rustled across this country, or the 35,000 horses that were stolen, or the 2 million bicycles that were stolen last year. These are the sorts of things that affect the lives of people in America.”

Schweitzer said the Dodson incident, rather than prove how prominent fraud is, showcases its rarity and that states are already equipped to handle issues.

“There’s a few things I’m thinking that you and your colleagues could be working on, as opposed to the one where .00001% of potential people from another country voted in our elections, but we can’t find an outcome that it’s been affected except for Dodson, Montana,” Schweitzer said.

The 23 voter records Jacobsen’s office flagged represent a fraction of a percent of registered voters in the state, as of 2025 records with the Secretary of State’s office. The possible non-citizen voter records comprise 0.0029% out of nearly 800,000 registered voters.

But Jacobsen’s press release emphasized that in Montana, small local elections can result in close races, including a “recent city council ward race resulted in a tie.”

“One illegal vote disenfranchises the voices of eligible Montanans and can cause irreparable harm to our elections,” Jacobsen said.