Montana's election season has gotten off to a rocky begin after absentee voters realized Vice President Kamala Harris was not a listed candidate on their poll.
The state of Montana was compelled to shut down its digital absentee voter system after it went dwell on September 20, 2024, when a voter reported that there was no choice to vote for Harris.
According to the Daily Inter Lake, Max Himsl, a Montana voter dwelling within the UK reported the problem when making an attempt to fill out his poll on-line. He reported it immediately to the Flathead County Election Department.
As a precaution, the Secretary of State's workplace, run by Republican Christi Jacobson, took down the Electronic Absentee System for troubleshooting, though they insisted that only a few voters had been affected by this difficulty.
They additionally reassured voters that this difficulty was simply on digital absentee ballots that are for members of the armed forces dwelling overseas, spouses or dependents of members of the armed forces dwelling overseas, U.S. residents dwelling overseas, and, per the Montana Secretary of State's web site: “Other individuals meeting definitions of “absent uniformed companies voter” and “abroad voter” in Montana law.”
A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's workplace advised Newsweek: “On Friday morning, our office received a report of a ballot not displaying properly for a UOCAVA voter [meaning eligible military and overseas citizens].
“As talked about, the system was taken offline within the morning for troubleshooting with the seller, and it was again on-line within the afternoon.
“The potentially impacted UOCAVA voter who submitted a ballot has since been contacted, and no further action is required. Vice President Kamala Harris and all certified candidates appear on Montana's ballots.”
The Harris marketing campaign has additionally been contacted through electronic mail for remark.
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According to the Daily Inter Lake, the secretary of state has assured voters that this poll difficulty is not going to have an effect on bodily absentee ballots, or Election Day ballots.
The state's ‘Vote Montana' platform has an inventory of all of the candidates on the poll.
This listing does embody Kamala Harris. Their full listing of candidates additionally consists of Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Chase Oliver, and Jill Stein. Crossed out on the high of the poll is Joseph R. Biden.
This isn't the primary election-related incident that Jacobson has been concerned in, and Jacobson has been criticized on-line for this current mishap.
Max Croes, former vice chair of the Montana Democratic Party mentioned on X :”This is criminal…The Montana SOS is an arm of the corrupt Montana GOP.”
An X consumer named Casey additionally criticized Jacobson for this poll incident, saying: “You've previously been sued for removing names off petitions.”
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Casey was referring to a current election firestorm involving Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, an abortion activism group within the state, who threatened Jacobson with a lawsuit in July 2024 for eradicating names from a petition to get abortion included for granted within the Montana Constitution.
The group claimed that Jacobson eliminated the names of registered however “inactive” voters from their petition. However, the secretary of state's workplace mentioned that they have been entitled to low cost inactive voters as “qualified electors” and due to this fact their signature didn't rely on the petition.
The group took the swimsuit to courtroom on July 10, 2024, and the courts dominated that Jacobson should put the eliminated signatures again onto the petition, at the least whereas the case proceeds.
Jacobson additionally lately requested the U.S. Supreme Court to think about interesting voter legal guidelines that have been discovered unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court. The legal guidelines that have been struck down prevented 17-year-olds from acquiring a poll even when they turned 18 by election day, eradicated same-day registration, refused college ID as legitimate ID, and banned poll collectors who obtained “pecuniary benefits.”
Jacobson has claimed that the Montana courtroom overstepped its bounds because it turned a state courtroom that was figuring out its personal election legal guidelines.
SCOTUS is but to weigh in on this case.
Update 9/24/24, 3:00 a.m. ET: This story was up to date to embody remark from the Montana secretary of state's workplace.
