HELENA – Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said Thursday that the start of the ballot initiative process has brought complaints over the way signatures are being gathered.
McCulloch said she is sending a letter to each of the 13 sponsors of ballot initiatives this year reminding them all of the rules.
The elections chief said she specifically is pointing out that signature gatherers must be Montana residents, and they can’t be paid based on the number of signatures gathered.
“I want every signature to count,” McCulloch said. “That means working to ensure that signatures aren’t tossed in the trash due to illegal signature gathering activities.”
Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth said he was told of complaints that signature gatherers may be misrepresenting a ballot initiative, didn’t have a copy of the initiative they were touting and could be from out of state.
But Unsworth and McCulloch both say none of the individual complaints would lead to enforcement action at this time.
Back in 2006, a high-profile court battle over ballot initiatives led a court to rule the signature gathering process was fraught with fraud. The state Supreme Court invalidated three of the initiatives.
McCulloch said she hopes to head off any problems by making sure the rules are absolutely clear to everyone.
“We know this is just the beginning,” she said. “Folks have not been gathering signatures long.”