Montana Resident and Citizen Requirements for Qualified Voters Initiative (2018)
| Montana Qualified Elector Requirements Amendment Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Suffrage | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Montana Qualified Elector Requirements Amendment Initiative (#117) was not on the ballot in Montana as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 6, 2018.
On June 21, 2018, the Associated Press reported that the measure would not be on the ballot. Initiative sponsor Chris Gallus said that sponsors had not been collecting signatures for the measure since May 2018.[1]
The ballot measure would have made explicit that non-qualified voters (non-U.S. citizens who have resided in Montana for less than 30 days) cannot vote in federal, state, local, or school elections in Montana, unless the legislature provides an exception for voting in local elections based on property ownership. Going into the election, the constitution defined a qualified elector as "any individual citizen of the United States 18 years of age or older who meets the registration and residence requirements provided by law" and who is not "serving a sentence for a felony in a penal institution or is of unsound mind, as determined by a court."
Shahid Haque, an immigration attorney, said state law already prohibits non-citizens from voting. Gallus, the sponsor, said he proposed the initiative because of policies in other states allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections.[2][3][4]
Text of measure
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article IV, Montana Constitution
The measure would have amended section 2 of Article IV of the state constitution. The following underlined text would have been added, and struck-through text would have been deleted:[2]
“Section 2. Qualified elector. Any Only an individual citizen of the United States
18 years of age or older who is a Montana resident for at least 30 days prior to the
election who meets the registration and residence requirements provided by law is a
qualified elector, unless he the individual is serving a sentence for a felony in a penal
institution or is of unsound mind, as determined by a court. Only qualified electors shall
be allowed to vote in federal, state, county, municipal and school elections in Montana,
unless the legislature by law provides an exception for a county or municipal special
district election where qualification to vote is based on property ownership."
NEW SECTION. Section 2. Severability. If a part of [this act] is invalid, all valid
parts that are severable from the invalid part remain in effect. If a part of [this act] is
invalid in one or more of its applications, the part remains in effect in all valid
applications that are severable from the invalid applications.
NEW SECTION. Section 3. Effective date. [This act] is effective on approval by the
electorate.
[5]
Full text
- The full text of the measure is available here.
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 2018 ballot:
- Signatures: 50,936 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures to county clerks was June 22, 2018. The deadline to submit signatures to the secretary of state was July 20, 2018.
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
- Chris Gallus submitted this initiative on March 1st, 2018.[6]
- The initiative was approved for signature gathering on April 23, 2018.[6]
- On June 21, 2018, initiative sponsor Chris Gallus said signatures had not been being gathered for the initiative since May 2018, and therefore the measure was not on the ballot.[7]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ WRAL, "Sponsors of at least 2 initiatives turning in signatures," accessed June 21, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Montana Secretary of State, "BALLOT LANGUAGE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVE NO. 117 (CI-117)," accessed April 23, 2018
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "Proposed 2018 Ballot Issues," accessed April 23, 2018
- ↑ Billings Gazette, "Proposed ballot measure seeks to bar non-U.S. citizens from voting in Montana," accessed May 4, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSOS - ↑ WRAL, "Sponsors of at least 2 initiatives turning in signatures," accessed June 21, 2018
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