Phil Drake, GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE
HELENA – The state has agreed to meet with a coalition of voters’ rights groups to discuss what the groups claim is Montana’s noncompliance with sections of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 in which people applying for or making changes to their driver’s license or other state services also have their voter’s registration updated.
In a Dec. 18 letter, the group claims Montana has not fully complied with sections that establish clear voter registration obligations on the Motor Vehicles Department and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
The letter to Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, the state’s chief election official, is signed by representatives from Project Vote, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, Demos, Forward Montana Foundation, Montana Women Vote and Western Native Voice.
Blair Fjeseth, spokeswoman for McCulloch, said the state has received the letter and has responded, agreeing to a meeting. The date of the meeting has not been set.
Catherine M. Flanagan, senior election counsel with Project Vote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan voters’ rights organization, said, “We’re finding that the process is not working the way required under the act. People who try to register to vote when they conduct a driver’s license transaction are not being able to to register to vote.”
The law, also known as the Motor Voter Act, requires states let people register to vote at the same time that they apply for or renew a driver’s license. The state then forwards the application to the appropriate election official.
According to the letter, the voters right act lets people apply for a driver’s license and voter registration at the same time. However, they say they are concerned about potential problems as MVD’s license and renewal applications do not serve “as an application for voter registration … unless the applicant fails to sign the voter registration application.”
The group says that people who want to register to vote are given a separate form and that MVD staff is not giving them the prepopulated registration application for their signature.
“In fact, in the 2014 general election, hundreds of voters were forced to travel to their county clerk’s office to register and vote because precinct officials could not find them on the rolls, although they believed they had previously registered at a MVD office,” the group says.
They say they are also concerned Montana is not following a rule that requires states to designate all offices that provide public assistance as voter registration agencies. DPHHS must distribute a voter registration application form with each applicant’s recertification, renewal and change of address unless the client declines in writing.
Flanagan said a lot of states are not fully in compliance with the motor voter law.
She said aggrieved parties can sue to ask the state to come into compliance. The violation also authorizes attorney’s fees be paid.
The Dec. 18 letter noted that in 2012, the state had made some improvements to the system.
Flanagan was hopeful that would happen this time as well.
“We have worked cooperatively in the past,” she said.
Absentee voter address confirmation mailed this month
HELENA – County election offices will mail all registered absentee voters an address confirmation form this month to ensure that absentee voters remain on the list to be mailed ballots for the 2016 federal elections.
“Even if your mailing address did not change, you must complete the form, sign and return to the county election office in order to remain on the list to have ballots mailed to you for 2016 and 2017,” Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said.
This year new legislation has made it possible for absentee voters to confirm their mailing address using email. Voters should follow the directions on the form and email their county election administrator the required information.
“It’s important that voters return the form as soon as possible to ensure that their mailing address is updated if necessary and so they do not miss any elections for which they are eligible,” McCulloch said.
If a voter does not receive a confirmation form in the mail, but wants to be on the list to have ballots mailed to them, go to sos.mt.gov and sign up.