Student Voting Guide | Montana
Registration
http://sos.mt.gov/Elections/index.asp (registration form available online)
Montana has Election Day registration, but at county election offices, rather than at polling places. You can also register in person at the election administrator’s office at any time before the election.[1] However, any elector who registers after noon on the day before Election Day must appear at the county election office on Election Day in order to vote.[2] If you register at a different government agency, you must register by 30 days before the election, and if you register by mail your application must be postmarked by that date and received no later than three days after registration has closed.[3] If you submit your application on time but make a mistake on your form, you may correct it up to 10 days before Election Day.[4]
You can register to vote if you will be 18 by the next election.[5]
Residency
Montana law defines your voting residence as your place of fixed habitation, the place where you intend to return after being away.[6] Nothing in the election code requires an intent to remain permanently or indefinitely, just that you intend to make Montana your home. Your intent to make a certain place your residence for voting is the most referenced factor in establishing residency.[7]
At School. The website of the Secretary of State states plainly that students who live at school can choose whether to register at home or at school.[8]
At Home. Students who lived in Montana prior to attending school and who wish to establish or keep their Montana voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Montana allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school. The only way you will lose this residency is if you “abandon” it by asserting residency in a new state. Registering to vote in another state is considered an abandonment of residency in Montana, and individuals who have voted in another state will have to re-establish residency in Montana in order to vote there.[9]
Challenges to Residency. Your eligibility to vote can be challenged only if another registered voter files a signed affidavit against you.[10] You can fight a challenge by signing an affidavit swearing your eligibility to vote and providing evidence on your behalf.[11] If the challenge is made prior to the close of regular registration, the election administrator will question you and the challenger, review all the evidence, and make a final eligibility determination.[12] You may only be barred from voting if a preponderance of the evidence indicates that you are ineligible to vote.[13] If the challenge is made after the close of registration or on Election Day, you can cast a provisional ballot.[14] If you cast a provisional ballot, you must verify your eligibility to vote in person, by fax, or by email before 5 pm on the day after Election Day, or by mail postmarked on Election Day or the day after for your ballot to be counted.[15]
Identification
All Montana voters must show identification before voting.[16] Almost any type of current photo ID displaying your name is accepted, including a driver's license, school ID, state ID, or tribal ID.[17] Alternatively, you can show a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, voter confirmation notice, government check, or other government document with your name and address.[18] Cellular phone bills or student housing bills that either include utilities or are issued by a state college or university are both acceptable if they have your current address. Printouts of online bills are also accepted.[19] If you do not provide identification, you are still entitled to cast a provisional ballot.[20] That ballot will be counted if your signature on the ballot matches your registration signature and you are a legally registered elector who provided identifying information at the time of registration.[21]
Absentee Voting
Any registered voter may vote absentee without giving an excuse for doing so, including first-time voters.[22] Absentee voting applications must be received before noon the day before Election Day.[23] Absentee ballots must be received by your local election administrator’s office before polls close on Election Day.[24] Neither your application nor your ballot needs to be witnessed.
If you are a voter whose eligibility has not yet been verified, you must include a photocopy of acceptable identification with your ballot.[25] Accepted forms of identification are the same as those allowed for in-person voting (see above).[26]
Early Voting
As a convenience to voters, Montana has early voting which begins as soon as the ballots are available.[27] At the office of the election administrator, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county. If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Mont. Admin. R. 44.3.2015.
[2] Mont. Admin. R. 44.3.2015.
[3] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-2-301(3) (2009).
[4] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-301(4).
[5] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-2-205.
[6] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-1-112(1) (2009).
[7] See Mont. Code Ann. § 13-1-112(1)-(8).
[8] Montana Secretary of State, Voting Information, at http://sos.mt.gov/Elections/Voter_Information.asp.
[9] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-2-402(6) (2009).
[10] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-301(1) (2009).
[11] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-301(4).
[12] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-301(3).
[13] Mont. Admin. R. 44.3.2109(6) (2010).
[14] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-301(3) (2009).
[15] Mont. Admin. R. 44.3.2114 (5)–(6) (2010).
[16] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-114(1).
[17] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-114(1).
[18] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-114(1).
[19] Interview with Marilyn Bracken, Lewis and Clark County Elections Department (July 7, 2008).
[20] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-114(2) (2009).
[21] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-15-107 (2009).
[22] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-201 (2009).
[23] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-211(1).
[24] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-232(2).
[25] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-201(3).
[26] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-201(3).
[27] Mont. Code Ann. § 13-13-222(1).
