Passions flare over conducting special election by mail

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The fight over Montana’s only congressional seat was thrust into the legislative arena Thursday, as lawmakers continued debate over whether to conduct the May 25 special election by mail.

Passions flared in the House Judiciary Committee as dozens of people - some driving more than 400 miles to attend a hearing - urged lawmakers to save counties from financial hardship and logistical nightmares by allowing the election to be held with only mail-in ballots.

So heated was the hearing that the committee’s chair, Republican Rep. Alan Doane of Bloomfield, halted proceedings and cleared the room after one woman refused to end her testimony.

It would cost more than $2 million to hold an election, and counties say they could save as much as $750,000 by conducting the vote through the mail.

“I want to be sure the people who want to vote can vote,” said the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick of Great Falls. “We’re talking about whether people are going to be able to vote for their congressman.”

The congressional contest between Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist is garnering wide national attention, as Democrats attempt to mobilize after their embarrassing showing last November.

With only about two months before the special election, counties have little time to print ballots, find polling places, and hire election judges.

Secretary of State Corey Stapleton opposes the vote-by-mail measure and suggested that an all-mail election could affect the integrity of the balloting

“We’re not here to have the cheapest elections. We’re here to have the best elections,” Stapleton told lawmakers.

Meanwhile, another legislative committee heard a separate measure on Wednesday that would ask voters to limit who can collect ballots. The proposal is meant to prevent groups, including ones aligned with political parties, from going door to door to collect completed ballots.

Key Republicans have raised concerns over what they call ballot interference, but there have been no documented cases in Montana of voter fraud because of mail-in voting.

While Fitzpatrick’s bill appeared to be a bipartisan effort, the matter took an overtly partisan tone when the chair of the Montana Republican Party, Rep. Jeff Essmann of Billings, warned party loyalists that mail-only voting could strengthen Democratic prospects and hurt Republican chances at the ballot box.

“Unless we have protections for ballot security in mail ballots, I think people should have the option to vote the way they want to,” Essmann said.

Representatives from counties across the expansive state are scrambling to find the money to pay for the special election. They said they did not set aside the necessary funds to pay for the necessary staff and facilities required to hold a special election.

Frank DePriest, who chairs the Blaine County Board of Commissioners, said his county had to cut $600,000 from its budget and froze wages. Running an election, he said, would siphon thousands of dollars from county programs.

Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Susan Good Geise, a former legislator and statewide chair of the Republican Party, said mail voting would save her county $65,000 in “unanticipated expenses in tight budget times.”