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Montanans reject changes to voting, likely dooming two ballot initiatives • Daily Montanan

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Montanans reject changes to voting, likely dooming two ballot initiatives • Daily Montanan


Voters in Montana who could change the state’s constitution — and the way the Treasure State votes — decided not to as results inched closer to being tallied across the snow-dusted state.

The two changes were proposed in tandem and would have altered how voters choose candidates. While one of the initiatives, Constitutional Initiative 126 appeared close at times on Election Day to passing, but by Wednesday morning both it and its companion initiative, Constitutional Initiative 127 appeared destined for defeat.

The Associated Press called both races late Wednesday morning with about 92% of votes counted. CI-126 failed to pass by a margin of about 20,000 votes, 48% to 52%. while votes against CI-127 garnered 61% of the vote, to 38% in favor of the measure.

CI-126 would change Montana’s primaries and have a ripple effect on the general election.

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It would allow for the top four candidates in most races to advance to the general election, regardless of party. Though the system has been referred to as an “open primary,” it’s more accurately called a “jungle primary.” Currently in Montana, the primaries are open to all voters, but Montana residents must choose which party ballot to vote.

Supporters of CI-126 said that it would allow Montanans to select the best candidate, regardless of parties. Opponents said it just adds confusion and uncertainty to the process.

CI-126 had been rejected by voters with 278,195 voting against it, while 258,470 supported it.

“Today is a disappointing day as we see politicians and special interests once again succeed at stopping Montanans from gaining more power in our elections,” said Frank Garner, a board member for the group behind the measure, Montanans for Election reform. “We fought hard against the entrenched politicians and special interests who didn’t want to give voters more voice and better choices on the ballot because the current system benefits them, not voters. We still believe open primaries are a powerful tool to hold politicians accountable and put the power over our elections back in the hands of voters, but they aren’t the only path forward. We will continue to stand up for freedom and choice in our elections.”

CI-127, which is supported by the same backers as CI-126, had 61% of voters opposing it and just 39% in favor at press time. It would require that the top candidate in any race be elected with a majority (50% or more) rather than a plurality. If no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote, then the Legislature would determine how the winner is selected.

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Currently, the Montana Legislature has outlawed ranked choice voting, so it would either have to change or repeal the law, or consider another means of selecting a candidate, including a “snap run off,” which would require another statewide election.

CI-127 never appeared to be ahead in the polls.

Even though the initiatives were supported by the same group, both do not need to pass to function in law.

For example, if CI-126 passes, it would simply mean that the top four vote-getters, regardless of political party, would advance to the general election. Likewise, if only CI-127 passes, then it would require that the winner of an election receive at least 50%, regardless of how many people are on the ballot.

Constitutional Initiative 126 and 127 were two of three initiatives that could change the Montana Constitution. The other, Constitutional Initiative 128, would enshrine the right to an abortion in the constitution even though the procedure has been legal for years, based on Supreme Court precedent.

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Montana voters approve constitutional right to abortion

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Montana voters approve constitutional right to abortion


Montana voters approved a ballot measure enshrining abortion in the state constitution, NBC News projects, delivering a victory to advocates for reproductive rights in a Western red state.

The amendment will not change current law on abortion in Montana: Abortion is legal in the state until fetal viability, around the 23rd or 24th week of pregnancy, backed up by a 1999 ruling by the state Supreme Court.

But advocates for the ballot measure wanted to guard against potential changes by the Legislature or state Supreme Court justices in the heavily Republican state.

The amendment establishes a right for people to “make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy,” including the right to abortion; prohibits the government from “denying or burdening” the right to abortion before fetal viability; and bars the government from “denying or burdening access” to abortion when a health care professional determines it is “medically indicated to protect the pregnant patient’s life or heath,” according to the ballot language.

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The measure also prevents the government from “penalizing patients, healthcare providers, or anyone who assists in exercising their right to make and carry out voluntary decisions about their pregnancy.”

The ballot measure required a simple majority to pass. It withstood a series of legal challenges from Republicans in the solidly conservative state.

Nine other states considered constitutional amendments concerning abortion rights in this election: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York and South Dakota.



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Montana polling places are busy across the state • Daily Montanan

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Montana polling places are busy across the state • Daily Montanan


Polling places across Montana were busy Tuesday morning.

Montana voters stood in some long lines from Yellowstone County to Missoula County to register to vote, and they cruised through parking lots to drop off their ballots.

Shelby Richards and pup Rose stand in line on Election Day 2024 in Missoula. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

In Missoula, Shelby Richards stood in line with pup Rose, a service animal in training to help with her severe post traumatic stress disorder.

Richards, who has a 6-year-old daughter, said she believes the economy has been in decline.

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“It’s time for some things to change and make it livable for families,” Richards said.

She said she wants to see former President Donald Trump and fellow Republican Tim Sheehy, running to oust Democrat incumbent Jon Tester in the U.S. Senate, take office.

Tester and Sheehy have been in an expensive and heated battle being watched nationally with control of the Senate in the balance.

That race and the presidential outcome aren’t likely to be known on Tuesday night, according to previous races Tester has run in Montana and elections experts watching national polling.

Outside the Elections Center in Missoula, Community Emergency Response Team workers directed voters driving through the parking lot.

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Logan Kostka, 20, wants to protect women’s reproductive rights and opposes Project 2025. (Keila Szpaller/The Daily Montanan)

CERT’s Dawn Couch said people had been kind and patient with each other, and a few were honking and yelling the names of their candidates.

She said the elections staff had been “amazing.”

“It’s been really, really well run,” Couch said.

In the parking lot, Logan Kostka looked for a pen to sign his name and turn in his ballot. Kostka said women’s reproductive rights were one factor in the 2024 election, but not the only one.

“As an LGBTQ+ member, a lot of the stuff coming from Project 2025 is literally against my belief system and my being as a human,” said Kostka, 20.

Project 2025 is a conservative playbook devised by the Heritage Foundation, other conservative groups, and more than 200 former staffers of Trump. It contains controversial policy ideas such as doing away with the federal Department of Education.

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Greg Weller, also with CERT, said traffic Tuesday morning had come in waves. As he waited to direct voters, one rolled up with an open window.

“I have one to drop off,” the voter said.

At least one neighborhood polling place at an elementary school in Missoula didn’t have lines out the door.

Shelby Jessop walked down the sidewalk sporting an “I Voted” sticker on her coat. Jessop, whose little girl followed, said abortion is a top issue for her, and she stands with Sheehy.

“I think that we should all be a part of what decisions are made in our country,” Jessop said. “I wish more people would vote, honestly.”

Montanans stand in line to register to vote at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)
Montanans stand in line to register to vote at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

 

In Lewis and Clark County, more than 100 people were in line to vote or update their registration around 11 a.m., while people simultaneously came in to drop their absentee ballots off.

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Montana Secretary of State's Office Elections Director Austin James and office spokesperson Richie Melby speak with election workers at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)
Montana Secretary of State’s Office Elections Director Austin James and office spokesperson Richie Melby speak with election workers at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)

A county election official told the Daily Montanan it had been “busy as hell” all morning and likely would be throughout the rest of the day.

Montana Secretary of State’s Office Elections Director Austin James was at the county elections office to check in and said things were similarly busy in many counties across Montana.

James said he’d gotten to work at 4 a.m. Tuesday and that a team was working at the office to ensure there were no cyberattacks or other malicious activity occurring within election offices, but he reported no issues so far. He said the office would not release a county’s results until everyone in line had voted to ensure none of their votes were influenced by early results.

Election workers at four polling sites the Daily Montanan visited around Helena in the late morning and early afternoon continued to see a steady stream of voters coming through. Several said they had lines to start the morning at 7 a.m., that the turnout was much higher than in the primary, and that they had been busy throughout the morning.

In Yellowstone County, polling places were filled on Tuesday morning. Election officials there said they hadn’t seen such a turnout from voters since at least the 2008 election.

Voters wait to register to vote at the MetraPark Expo Center in Billings, Montana on Nov. 5, 2024 (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).

Cascade County officials had to open up extra room to house long lines of voters waiting to register, the Montana Free Press reported. Voters in Gallatin County stood in line through a morning dose of snow, social media posts show. Nora Shelly of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that some of those voters in Gallatin County had been standing in line for four hours in the snow. Officials there said they don’t anticipate having the first results in until at least 11 p.m.

Voters cast their ballots at the Flathead County Fairgrounds on Election Day. (Photo by Micah Drew, Daily Montanan)

By 1:30 p.m., nearly 81% of Montana’s 549,080 absentee voters had returned their ballots — meaning turnout was about 55.6% of voters at the time.

Supporters of U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke wave at passing cars outside the Flathead County Fairgrounds on Election Day. (Photo by Micah Drew, Daily Montanan)

In Kalispell, voters in 27 precincts visited the Flathead County Fairgrounds to cast their ballots. Outside, supporters of U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke, who is running for re-election to represent Montana’s 1st Congressional District, waved signs, blasted music and stayed warm under heat lamps.

For a time, Zinke himself was out on the sidewalk waving at the cars lined up to enter the fairgrounds. Zinke will be spending election night in Whitefish.

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U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke waves at passing cars outside the Flathead County Fairgrounds on Election Day. (Photo by Micah Drew, Daily Montanan)



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Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr must win reelection to return to the House floor after 2023 sanction

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Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr must win reelection to return to the House floor after 2023 sanction


Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr is seeking reelection in a race that could allow the transgender lawmaker to return to the House floor nearly two years after she was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues.

Zephyr, a Democrat, is highly favored to defeat Republican Barbara Starmer in her Democrat-leaning district in the college town of Missoula. Republicans still dominate statewide with control of the governor’s office and a two-thirds majority in the Legislature.

The first-term Democrat was last permitted to speak on the chamber floor in April 2023, when she refused to apologize for saying some lawmakers would have blood on their hands for supporting a ban on gender-affirming medical care for youth.

Before voting to expel Zephyr from the chamber, Republicans called her words hateful and accused her of inciting a protest that brought the session to a temporary standstill. Some even sought to equate the non-violent demonstration with an insurrection.

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Her exile technically ended when the 2023 session adjourned, but because the Legislature did not meet this year, she must win reelection to make her long-awaited return to the House floor in 2025.

Zephyr said she hopes the upcoming session will focus less on politicizing transgender lives, including her own, and more on issues that affect a wider swath of Montana residents, such as housing affordability and health care access.

“Missoula is a city that has cared for me throughout the toughest periods of my life. It is a city that I love deeply,” she told The Associated Press. “So, for me, getting a chance to go back in that room and fight for the community that I serve is a joy and a privilege.”

Zephyr’s clash with Montana Republicans propelled her into the national spotlight at a time when GOP-led legislatures were considering hundreds of bills to restrict transgender people in sports, schools, health care and other areas of public life.

She has since become a leading voice for transgender rights across the country, helping fight against a torrent of anti-trans rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail from Donald Trump and his allies. Her campaign season has been split between Montana and other states where Democrats are facing competitive races.

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Zephyr said she views her case as one of several examples in which powerful Republicans have undermined the core tenets of democracy to silence opposition. She has warned voters that another Trump presidency could further erode democracy on a national level, citing the then-president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has said he does not think his running mate lost the 2020 election, echoing Trump’s false claims that the prior presidential election was stolen from him.

Zephyr’s sanction came weeks after Tennessee Republicans expelled Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Legislature for chanting along with gun control supporters who packed the House gallery in response to a Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three children. Jones and Pearson were later reinstated.

Oklahoma Republicans also censured a nonbinary Democratic colleague after state troopers said the lawmaker blocked them from questioning an activist accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest over legislation banning children from receiving gender-affirming care, such as puberty-blocking drugs and hormones.

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Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.



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