HELENA — Only two names are appearing on Montana’s presidential primary ballots this year: Joe Biden and Donald Trump. However, voters do have another option.

For 50 years, Montana law has required that voters in the state’s presidential primaries have a choice to vote “no preference” instead of for a candidate.

One group actively encouraging voters to support “no preference” is Montanans 4 Palestine, which has organized protests against Democratic and Republican politicians because of their stances on Israel’s war in Gaza. Several weeks ago, they announced they would campaign for a “no preference” vote in the Democratic primary as a way to protest the Biden administration, saying it hasn’t done enough to stand up against what they describe as a genocide.

“Ultimately, this is an expression of disgust with the president’s policies,” said co-founder Brendan Work.

Last weekend, Montanans 4 Palestine members were knocking on doors in Bozeman and Missoula to get out their message, and Work said they’ll be canvassing again this weekend. They’ve also distributed yard signs in several cities across the state.

Work said they’re making the case voting “no preference” is a low-risk way for people to show they’re unhappy with the administration.

“Biden has already won the nomination pretty much, and this vote is not like a vote for Trump,” he said. “So it’s a good way for people to express their feelings – and it’s easy to do: It’s right on the ballot; it says ‘Joe Biden,’ and ‘no preference.’ And that’s an easy choice for a lot of us.”

Work estimates his group has around 300 members, and he says it’s grown significantly since the start of the war in Gaza. He said their initial goal is to get 5,000 “no preference” votes, which he said would demonstrate there’s a “pro-peace constituency” that leaders need to listen to, especially in the closely watched race for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat. Their higher target is to crack 15% of the Democratic primary vote, which would allow for the selection of “no-preference” delegates for the Democratic National Convention. Work said that would likely take 20,000 votes.

This campaign follows visible efforts to encourage “uncommitted” votes in Democratic primaries in a number of other states, including Michigan, Washington and Wisconsin. That vote has often ended up between about 8% and 15%, reaching as high as nearly 19% in Minnesota’s primary and 29% in Hawaii’s caucus. However, Biden has won the overwhelming majority of delegates – projected by national analysts to be more than 3,600, compared with just over 30 uncommitted delegates.

A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign released a statement to MTN Thursday.

“The President believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” they said. “He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.”

2024 will be the first time in 40 years that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have multiple candidates listed on their Montana primary ballot. In recent election cycles, the highest “no preference” vote totals have generally come when there’s only one candidate on the ballot – like in 2012, when “no preference” got 9.4% of the Democratic primary vote in Barack Obama’s reelection year, and in 2020, when Trump was the only Republican candidate and 6.2% of the vote was for “no preference.”

The largest share of “no preference” votes for both Republicans and Democrats in Montana came in 1992: 16.6% and 24%, respectively.

Montana “No Preference” Vote History:

1976:

Republicans: 2.2%, 1,996 votes
Democrats: 3.6%, 3,820 votes

1980:

Republicans: 3.8%, 3,014 votes
Democrats: 11.9%, 15,466 votes

1984:

Republicans: 7.5%, 5,378 votes
Democrats: 28,385 votes (Montana Democrats held a caucus and no candidates appeared on the primary ballot)

1988:

Republicans: 7.5%, 6,520 votes
Democrats: 3.6%, 4,083 votes

1992:

Republicans: 16.6%, 15,098 votes
Democrats: 24.0%, 28,164 votes

1996:

Republicans: 7.2%, 8,533 votes
Democrats: 10.0%, 9,176 votes

2000:

Republicans: 4.1%, 4,655 votes
Democrats: 22.1%, 19,447 votes

2004:

Republicans: 5.6%, 6,340 votes
Democrats: 7.4%, 6,899 votes

2008:

Republicans: 2.4%, 2,333 votes
Democrats: 2.4%, 4,358 votes

2012:

Republicans: 3.8%, 5,456 votes
Democrats: 9.4%, 8,270 votes

2016:

Republicans: 4.7%, 7,369 votes
Democrats: 4.2%, 5,415 votes

2020:

Republicans: 6.2%, 13,184 votes
Democrats: 2.8%, 4,250 votes

Authors Tony and Janet Seahorn, who co-wrote “Tears of a Warrior, a Family’s Story of Combat and Living with PTSD,” will speak at the 19th annual Memorial Day Ceremony in Great Falls, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday.

The Seahorns — Tony, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, and Janet, who teaches on neuroscience and literacy at Regis University in Denver and at Colorado State University — provide education counseling, team building and outdoor adventures through their business, and their book was selected as the military book of the year in 2014. They will participate in a book signing at the VFW Post 4669, at the Black Eagle Community Center, from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday.

The Memorial Day ceremony will also include personnel from Malmstrom Air Base, Montana Veterans Memorial Association President Starnell Darko, Jesse Callendar from the Great Falls Pipe Band, Great Falls Municipal Band and Boy Scout troops from the area. In addition, Army veteran and Blackfeet Community College professor Marvin Weatherwax Sr. will introduce the Blackfeet Veterans Honor Guard. Following the ceremony members of the Blackfeet Nation will conduct a blessing at the Agent Orange Monument at the Montana Veterans Memorial.

The Montana Veterans Memorial is at 1025 25th St. N in Great Falls. Monday’s ceremony will also be broadcast on the Montana Veterans Memorial Facebook page, and on 89.9 KGPR Great Falls Public Radio.

A Montana couple who claim they lost custody of their daughter after opposing a gender transition now allege the 14-year-old was taken from them by the state’s child protective services without a warrant, according to a new lawsuit.

The teen’s father, Todd Kolstad, and stepmother, Krista, slapped the agency with a federal suit earlier this week, claiming that social workers allegedly took their child without due process by not having a judge sign off on the warrant, the Daily Montanan reported.

The couple also allege their religious freedoms were ignored and their civil rights violated when CPS opted to put the teen in a psychiatric facility in Wyoming instead of Montana — and then banned them from communicating with the child.

The legal saga first erupted when the Kolstads’ said the teen, who is only identified as “H.K.” in court papers, told them last year that he identifies as transgender and wanted to transition to a male.

The couple, however, said they refused the teen’s request because of their strong religious beliefs.

State officials were subsequently alerted last summer when H.K. expressed suicidal thoughts at school and was admitted to a hospital for in-patient psychiatric care after claiming to have ingested a mix of ibuprofen and toilet bowl cleaner.

Concerned about the risk of suicide and imminent harm, state officials argued, at the time, that they were justified in taking custody of H.K.

But the couple claim the social workers lied in an affidavit that H.K. faced “an imminent risk of physical harm” and left out any mention of their religious beliefs.

“Seizing a child without a warrant is excusable only when officials have reasonable cause to believe that the child is likely to experience serious bodily harm in the time that would be required to obtain a warrant,” the court filing states.

“(CPS) knew that H.K. was not facing an imminent substantial risk of serious harm when they seized her on Aug. 22,” the suit continued. “Defendants’ deceit of the state court made the court’s proceedings against the Kolstads a sham from start to finish.”

When they took custody of the teen, the state said they trying to find a permanent bed in a psychiatric hospital for H.K., the lawsuit notes.

The Kolstads’ argue they, too, were supportive of finding a psychiatric bed for the teen — as long as it was in Montana because they feared out-of-state medical professionals might start the transition process.

The couple believed Montana banned medical support for teens looking to transition given the issue is still being litigated in state courts, according to the suit.

They claim state officials switched the plans at the last minute and moved H.K. to a psychiatric treatment center in neighboring Wyoming against their wishes and banned them from contacting the teen.

The state agency didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about the litigation.

The lawsuit comes after the case spilled into the public realm earlier this year when Gov. Greg Gianforte ordered Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras to carry out a review of the case.

Gianforte, a Republican, later backed the social workers after Juras’ probe found “the court have followed state policy and law in their handling of this tragic case.”

In a statement to The Post, Gianforte’s office stressed the state doesn’t remove minors from homes to provide gender transition services or use public funds to pay for those services while a minor is in the state’s custody.

“As outlined in its statement of purpose, Child Protective Services protects children who have been or are at substantial risk of abuse, neglect or abandonment,” a spokesperson said at the time.

H.K. currently resides with his biological mother in her native Canada.