Attorney General Sued Over Ballot Issue Focused on Protecting the Initiative Process
It marks the fourth lawsuit against the attorney general over ballot issues submitted for consideration this year
By Mariah Thomas
A proposed ballot issue that wants to make the ballot initiative process easier to navigate is now the subject of the latest lawsuit filed against the state’s attorney general.
Ballot Issue 8, first submitted to the Secretary of State in October, aims to amend the state’s constitution to protect the power of initiative and referendum from “unjustified interference by the government.”
“Specifically, this act requires impartial, predictable, open, and timely processes for ballot issues, including approving petitions and ballot statements, resolving legal challenges, and verifying signatures,” the issue states. “It requires the state to allow ample time for signature gathering, prohibits disqualification of petitions because of minor or technical issues, and allows voters to withdraw their signatures if they so choose.”
Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s office deemed the initiative legally insufficient on Dec. 4. The legal sufficiency memo stated the issue didn’t meet Montana’s separate-vote principle. That principle guards against logrolling more than one issue into a single ballot measure.
“Ballot Measure No. 8 fails this test because it ‘adds new matter to the Constitution,’ which constitutes at least one amendment, and implicitly amends multiple other constitutional provisions,” the memo stated.
It also added a fiscal statement to the measure. The memo stated the measure is likely to lead to challenges in court and therefore, will include legal costs to the Secretary of State’s office amounting to between $50,000 and $500,000.
The issue’s submitters, Claudia Clifford and Theresa Kendrick, and a political committee known as “Montanans Decide” filed the lawsuit pushing back on the attorney general’s findings. The filing asks the state’s Supreme Court to reverse the legal sufficiency determination and remove the proposed fiscal statement.
“For over 100 years, Montanans have turned to direct democracy when our politicians fail to address pressing issues,” said SK Rossi, the spokesperson for Montanans Decide. “(Ballot Issue) 8 will restore Montanans’ power to propose and vote on ballot issues and make the process open and accessible again, which is exactly why we’re not surprised the Attorney General is trying to stop it. Politicians playing games with the ballot measure process, including triggering constant lawsuits, is exactly why we need (Ballot Issue) 8.”
The legal filing on behalf of Montanans Decide and the submitters argues new laws have made the initiative process more challenging. It references several laws passed in recent legislative sessions that changed the initiative and referendum process.
The lawsuit’s text also mentions the Attorney General rewriting ballot statements, “requiring serial litigation before this Court.” Knudsen rewrote the ballot statements of two initiatives this year. Both aim to maintain nonpartisan judicial elections in the state. The Supreme Court struck down Knudsen’s rewrites on both Constitutional Initiative 131 and 132 in the past month.
When asked for comment on the court filing, Knudsen’s communications director, Amanda Braynack, pointed the Beacon to the legal sufficiency memo.
“Attorney General Knudsen will continue to ensure constitutional initiatives are legally sufficient and Montanans know exactly what they’re voting for when they cast their ballot,” Braynack wrote in an email.