Montana's elections office warned of "historically high" ballot rejections without telling counties a judge had found the birth-year rule unconstitutional

L2Who’s affected

Absentee voters, who the judge noted made up more than three-quarters of voters in Montana's 2018 election, are affected. Lewis and Clark County Elections Administrator Connor Fitzpatrick said absentee voters should write their birth year "just in case." Gallatin County Clerk and Recorder Bret Rutherford said his understanding was based solely on the email, that he hadn't read the court order and wasn't aware the judge had found the requirement unconstitutional. Yellowstone County Elections Administrator Dayna Causby said her office will accept all ballots and won't segregate those without birth years (MTFP).

L3Why it’s quiet

Analysis · OVERLOOKED A state election-administration story surfaced through a county records request; the secretary of state's office did not answer MTFP's questions sent multiple times over two days. AP covered the ruling itself, but we saw no coverage of the advisory by the 13 major U.S. outlets.

L4Deeper impact

Trent Bolger of Big Sky 55+, a plaintiff: "The secretary of state's office could have cleared this up earlier. But they chose not to, and now they've decided to complain in an unprofessional manner." Betsy Brandborg of Friends of the Third Branch: "This is at best disrespectful. At worst, it demonstrates a lack of understanding of how democracy works." Elections and Voter Services Manager Sadie Dallaserra, who sent the email, called the plaintiffs, both headquartered in Helena, "DC groups" and wrote that the ruling means the office "can no longer proceed with the extensive outreach campaign" it had planned (MTFP).

L5Full context

District Judge Mike Menahan granted summary judgment to Big Sky 55+ and Disability Rights Montana on Oct. 2, finding that HB 719 failed middle-tier constitutional review and that the state had not provided evidence the requirement prevented election fraud; he enjoined enforcement, and the order did not limit the injunction to the 2026 general election. Under the law, in effect since July 2025, 1,814 absentee ballots went uncounted in the November 2025 municipal elections, against a prior statewide uncounted rate of half a percent; 2,855 were rejected in May school elections and 1,103 in the June primary (MTFP, citing the order and state figures).

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