Montana Republicans are fast-tracking a bill to remove the option to register and vote on Election Day. If passed, the bill (SB 405) would put a referendum on the November 2014 ballot for voters to decide whether to keep this policy that has helped more than 28,000 register to vote since 2005.
Alarmingly, the bill is considered one of many “anti-Indian” proposals in the state. According to Stephanie Woodard at Indian Country Today, citizens living on Montana reservations would be hardest hit.
“In a recent election, 14 percent of those utilizing this option were Indians, which is about double their proportion of the electorate,” said Senator Sharon Stewart-Peregoy. “Some people are doing everything they can—gerrymandering and more—to stack things against Indian voting.”
Woodard notes that state Republicans are using “referenda to achieve these changes [to avoid] a potential veto by Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat.” The legislature passed a similar bill HB 30 that is not a referendum. It may soon head to the governor’s desk.
Supporters of the bill claim that it would eliminate voter fraud in the state, but Secretary of State Linda McCulloch editorialized in the Billings Gazette that “voter fraud–votes knowingly cast by ineligible individuals–does not exist in Montana.”
Eliminating Election Day registration in Montana would affect other populations, including student voters, according to a recent MontPIRG survey. Students and staff at the University of Montana alone accounted for 650 of Montana’s 8,000 same-day registrants in November 2012.
Additionally, “job seekers, military personnel, and foreclosure victims are among the 12.5% of American households moving every year,” Kristin Muthig at Fair Elections Legal Network recently blogged. “Election Day registration allows such frequent movers or those who were not aware of changes to elections rules to register and exercise their right to vote.”
Correction, April 17, 2013: The figure for student same-day registrants in relation to same day registrants in the state has been updated to show figures, not percentages.
Photo via http://leg.mt.gov/