Montana Citizens' Grand Jury Initiative (2024)
| Montana Citizens' Grand Jury Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic State judiciary | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Montana Citizens' Grand Jury Initiative was not on the ballot in Montana as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024.
This initiative would have allowed citizens to convene a grand jury by a complaint and petition signed by 100 plus one-half of 1% of a county's electors.[1][2]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text is available here.
Support
Supporters
- Bart Crabtree, president of the Montana Citizens Council on Judicial Accountability[3]
Arguments
- Bart Crabtree said, "The grand jury is the body of truth and power, inferior to no one but the Legislature itself, which is of course, 'We the People.' A grand jury, bottom line, is the peoples' law enforcement and we the citizens of Montana have the fundamental state and constitutional right of access to a grand jury and it's a tool available to every Montana citizen, or at least it should be."[3]
Opposition
Opponents
- Brian Thompson of the Montana County Attorneys’ Association[4]
Arguments
- Brian Thompson of the Montana County Attorneys’ Association said, "It is not a protection for the citizens. What it is, is a forced prosecution. I would label that an inquisition, not a check on power of the government."[4]
Background
2023 bills proposing citizens' grand jury
During the 2023 legislative session of the Montana State Legislature, two bills were proposed to create a process for a ctizens' grand jury: House Bill 589 and House Bill 405. Both bills died in committee.[5]
Citizens' Grand Jury Initiative (2010)
A similar initiative, CI-106, was filed in 2010 but did not make the ballot. Stevensville, Montana, resident Duane A. Sipe sponsored the initiative. Sipe said, "With the political environment in the country going on right now, we have to open up some ideas. It is my opinion, and it is a lot of people’s opinion, we’re headed away from what the founders intended. We’re going into way too much government.”[6]
Path to the ballot
The state process
In Montana, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Moreover, signature collection must be distributed such that petitions include signatures equal to 10 percent of the votes cast for governor in each of two-fifths (40) of the state's 100 legislative districts in the last gubernatorial election. Petitioners have a maximum of one year to collect signatures and get them verified by county elections officials.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2024 ballot:
- Signatures: 60,359 valid signatures
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures to county clerks was June 21, 2024. The final deadline for county clerks to submit signatures to the secretary of state was July 19, 2024.
County election officials check each signature to make sure the name corresponds to the name of a registered voter. Then they use a 5 percent random sampling method to check the authenticity of the signatures. Signature petitions are then sent to the secretary of state, which certifies the measure for the ballot if enough valid signatures were submitted.
Details about this initiative
- The initiative was filed by Bart Crabtree president of the Montana Citizens Council on Judicial Accountability. It was approved for signature gathering on October 5, 2023.[1]
- Signatures for the initiative were not submitted by the deadline.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Montana Secretary of State, "Ballot Issues," accessed August 15, 2023
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Ballot Issue CI-125 ," accessed October 6, 2023
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Helena Independent Record, "Lawmakers won't support 'citizens grand jury' ballot initiative," accessed October 6, 2023
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Daily Montanan, "Opponents say citizen-called grand jury constitutional amendment would amount to ‘inquisition’," accessed October 6, 2023
- ↑ Daily Montanan, "Opponents say citizen-called grand jury constitutional amendment would amount to ‘inquisition’," accessed October 6, 2023
- ↑ Missoulian, "Stevensville man proposes ballot measure allowing citizens to convene grand juries," November 11, 2009
 |
State of Montana Helena (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
