HELENA – Both sides have filed motions for summary judgment in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Montana’s ballot-access requirements for independent and minority party candidates.
Steve Kelly of Bozeman and one of his supporters, Clarice Dreyer, filed the lawsuit in April 2008 against the Montana secretary of state.
Last October, a federal judge denied Kelly’s request to have his name placed on the November ballot in Montana’s U.S. Senate race.
Kelly wanted to get on the ballot in a race featuring incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who went on to win handily against surprise Republican nominee Bob Kelleher, who has run for office several times as both a Democratic and Green Party candidate.
Despite Kelly’s failure to get on the ballot, he and Dreyer pressed ahead with their suit, seeking to overturn the ballot-access requirements.
Minor-party and independent candidates in Montana need to gather signatures equal to 5 percent of the votes the previous winner of that office received in the prior election. A 2007 state law also increased the filing fee and moved the deadline to submit petitions from June to March.
Kelly argued the rules requiring such candidates to gather roughly 10,000 signatures early in the year are burdensome and unconstitutional.
“Montana’s ballot-access scheme for independent candidates for the United States Senate is by far the most burdensome in the nation,” says the brief filed by lawyers of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Kelly and Dreyer. “The scheme’s early deadline, high signature requirement and high filing fee make it all but impossible for such candidates to get on the ballot. In fact, no such candidates have appeared on Montana’s ballots since 1936.”
The state’s brief, filed Friday, says the plaintiff’s case fails on two counts:
“Plaintiffs’ claims are nonjusticiable on mootness and standing grounds because the election at issue has passed and Mr. Kelly has not been subject to the laws at issue. Plaintiffs’ claims also fail on the constitutional merits because Montana’s ballot access laws in their entirety impose a reasonable burden on good faith candidates and serve important and compelling state interests.”
U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon has taken Kelly’s and the state’s motions for summary judgment under advisement.
State Solicitor Anthony Johnstone said Monday that the plaintiffs have until May 22 to file a response brief with the court; and the state then has until June 5 to file a rebuttal, which will be the last filing in the case.
On or after June 5, Judge Haddon will decide whether he wants to hear further oral arguments or whether he will grant one or the other side’s request for summary judgment, Johnstone said.