Well Helena, that was embarrassing.
As if there wasn’t enough distrust in the U.S. election system and then Kamala Harris finds her name left off the Montana ballot.
“No, Montana did not leave a candidate off the 2024 General Election Ballot,” Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office countered this week, albeit not until international headlines screamed otherwise.
All of which, unfortunately, provides more fodder (read misinformation) to the election conspiracy frenzy gripping this country.
So it would appear that a “temporary” computer glitch found its way into Montana’s electronic overseas voting system last Friday, in effect deleting Harris’ name from where it originally appeared alongside Donald J. Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Write-in.
I can only imagine the uproar (storm the state capitol anyone?) if Trump’s name was nowhere to be found on Montana’s ballot.
That said, Helena’s blunder is by no means unique. For instance, in excess of 250 electronic absentee ballots — similarly sent overseas in recent days by polling officials in Palm Beach County, Fla. — misspelled vice presidential nominee Tim Walz’s name as “Tom.”
Whether it’s misprinting names, party affiliations, voting districts — or, in Montana’s case, delisting a candidate because of a computer glitch — ballot blunders can and do occur during every election cycle, which drives home a need for multi-layered electronic and paper “ballot proofing.”
Earlier this year, the national watchdog Elections Group, its mission to improve the trustworthiness of balloting through the election administration process, reminded state and county electoral supervisors that getting it right is far more important than being fast.
“Be aware of deadlines and give your team enough time to thoroughly proof ballots,” advised the group. “Spread the risk. Have multiple ballot proofers that can look with fresh eyes.”
It suggested bringing aboard county and city attorneys, government staff from auditing and accounting departments, and others “who are used to detail-oriented tasks.”
“A structured approach to ballot proofing will help eliminate common errors that, if left unnoticed, can have a detrimental effect on your election.”
Otherwise, the group warned, ballot errors can prove costly, as seen recently with one state jurisdiction that not only faced ballot reprinting costs, but $200,000 in overnight shipping.
“The headlines in 2022 and 2023 have shown numerous instances of ballot printing, design and fulfillment errors, including contests or candidates left off the ballot,” it assured.
Meanwhile, Montana this year has been ranked 40th in the nation in the prestigious Elections Performance Index (EPI), a project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Election Data and Science Lab.
The rankings call into account everything from voter registration and ballot rejection rates to security protocols and post-election audits (required in this state).
During Montana’s 2022-midterm elections, for example, the EPI deemed “notable” the 35% of overseas and military ballots, and 25% of locally mailed ballots, that were “unreturned.”
On a brighter note, the index found that Montana enjoys an 85% voter registration rate (based on the percentage of eligible citizens), 54% of which cast ballots in the 2022 midterm election. Which is far higher than the national turnout average of 47.5%.
As for the upcoming hotly contested federal, state and local elections, I would expect the turnout to be considerably higher.
Absentee ballots will be mailed to eligible voters starting 25 days before Election Day, which this year falls on Nov. 5.
John McCaslin is a longtime print and broadcast journalist and author.