Montana CI-131, Nonpartisan Supreme and District Court Elections Initiative (2026)
| Montana CI-131 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic State judicial selection |
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| Status Cleared for signature gathering |
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| Type Initiated constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Montana CI-131, the Nonpartisan Supreme and District Court Elections Initiative, may appear on the ballot in Montana as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2026.
The amendment would require that elections for the Montana Supreme Court and Montana District Courts to be nonpartisan in the Montana Constitution. Montana statute currently requires nonpartisan elections. By adding it to the state constitution, the threshold for changing the elections from nonpartisan to partisan would require another constitutional amendment.[1][2]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text of the initiative can be read here.
Path to the ballot
The state process
An initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. Eighteen (18) states allow citizens to initiate constitutional amendments.
In Montana, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Montana also has a distribution requirement that requires proponents to collect signatures equal to 10% of the qualified electors in each of two-fifths (40) of the state's 100 legislative districts. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval.
The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2026 ballot:
- Signatures: 60,241 valid signatures are required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures to county clerks is June 19, 2026. The deadline to submit signatures to the secretary of state was July 17, 2026.
Details about this initiative
- September 26, 2025: The initiative was filed by Ted Dick, and it was approved for signature gathering.[1]
- October 3, 2025: Petitioners filed a lawsuit against the attorney general regarding the drafted ballot language.[3]
| Court Information | |
| Issue | Whether the ballot summary written by the attorney general is accurate and neutral? |
|---|---|
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
| Ruling | |
| Ruling | The state Supreme Court ruled that the attorney general's ballot summary was misleading and rewrote the ballot language for CI-131. |
| Order(s) |
Order: Montana Supreme Court (December 11, 2025) Order: Montana Supreme Court (October 9, 2025) |
| Participants | |
| Plaintiff(s) | Montanans for Fair and Impartial Judges and Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts |
| Defendant(s) | Montana Attorney General Austin Miles Knudsen (R) |
Summary
On October 3, 2025, Montanans for Fair and Impartial Judges and Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts filed a lawsuit against Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) arguing that the ballot language for the initiatives related to nonpartisan judicial elections was inaccurate and biased.[3]
On December 11, 2025, the Montana Supreme Court ruled against the attorney general's drafted ballot title and issued new ballot language for the initiative.[4]
See also
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Montana Secretary of State, "Ballot Issues," accessed August 15, 2023
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Constitutional Initiative 131," accessed September 30, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Montana Free Press, "Attorney general’s edits to ballot initiatives anger petitioners," October 13, 2025
- ↑ Montana Free Press, "Montana Supreme Court says attorney general overstepped in rewriting ballot language on nonpartisan court races," Decemebr 11, 2025
