(NewsNation) — The group behind a proposed ballot measure to add abortion rights to the Montana Constitution is sparring off with the Secretary of State’s Office for allegedly rejecting petition signatures improperly.
Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights says it has collected more than 117,000 signatures for the measure, almost double the 60,000 needed to add Constitutional Initiative 128 to this November’s ballot, as reported by The Daily Montanan.
The committee, which is led by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana, said they filed public records requests for information about the handling of signatures. In emails from June, the SOS office allegedly told county election administrations that “inactive voters” could not sign petitions.
Another email revealed that state officials were updating Montana’s election software to reject signatures from these so-called inactive voters automatically, according to KTVH.
“These registered voters are clearly qualified electors, and they deserve to have their voices heard and their signatures counted,” Akilah Deernose, executive director of the ACLU of Montana and a spokesperson for MSRR, said in a statement to KTVH. “We demand the SOS reverse the software change immediately and correct the associated unlawful guidance issued to county election administrators.”
Who can sign Montana petitions?
The organizations behind two Montana ballot measures — including one to ensure abortion rights — this week sued the secretary of state’s office over changes it made to the rules about whose signatures may be accepted to support ballot measures.
Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen told counties last month that they must reject the signatures of voters who are inactive — those who fail to vote in a general election and who have not responded to efforts to confirm their mailing address.
The groups promoting the ballot measures say that position runs afoul of the state constitution, which calls for petitions to be signed by qualified electors — U.S. citizens 18 and older who meet registration and residency requirements.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Tuesday.
Are these fights common?
In South Dakota, the Life Defense Fund last month sued to block an abortion rights measure that’s on the November ballot. That case is still pending in court. Petitions for amendments to protect abortion rights and to eliminate partisan primary elections were submitted in June.
Judges’ rulings have been crucial in getting amendments to guarantee abortion rights on the ballot in Florida and Nevada.
The top state court in New York on Thursday agreed with a lower court decision that put an amendment to bar discrimination over “gender identity” and “pregnancy outcomes” before voters. A judge in May took it off the ballot after finding a procedural error by lawmakers who had put it there.
The ballot questions are part of a resetting of state abortion policies after a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended the nationwide right to abortion. Most Republican-controlled states have begun enforcing restrictions — including 14 that now have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.