‘The Montana Plan’ Appears Set to Qualify for November’s Ballot
The ballot initiative, which has been heralded as a novel approach to getting dark money out of elections, announced it has handed over nearly 50,000 signatures. To qualify, it needed 30,121.
By Mariah Thomas
A ballot initiative that has been heralded as a novel approach to getting dark money out of elections announced Tuesday it expects to make it onto November’s ballot after handing over nearly 50,000 signatures ahead of Friday’s deadline for petition signatures to be submitted to county election administrators. To qualify, it needed 30,121.
That initiative, I-194, or “The Montana Plan,” aims to limit business entities in the state from contributing to candidates, political parties and state ballot issues.
The proposal adds another chapter to a long and layered history with dark money in Montana, a state where the influence of the “Copper Kings” once reigned supreme before voters approved the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act, which banned corporations from spending money to influence elections in the state. But Citizens United, the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that opened the door to corporate money in politics, was used as the basis to strike down Montana’s law in 2012. I-194 aims to be a loophole to get around the Citizens United decision by changing the powers granted to corporations in the state.
As of Tuesday morning, the Secretary of State’s office had accepted 39,066 signatures for I-194 and rejected 5,524.
“This campaign has been powered by Montanans from the very beginning,” said Jeff Mangan, the founder of the Transparent Election Initiative and a former Commissioner of Political Practices, in a press release Tuesday. The Transparent Election Initiative is the nonprofit backing I-194.
“To the out-of-state corporate and special interests trying to spread disinformation about who we are and what we’re trying to accomplish: look at the power of this volunteer army. More than 500 Montanans gathered signatures in all 56 counties, without a single paid signature gatherer, and blew past the 30,121 signatures needed to qualify. That is what grassroots democracy looks like.”
The Montana Plan had to overcome several legal hurdles before it could gather signatures, shortening the initiative’s timeline to do so to a 13-week window.
In January, the state Supreme Court sided with Montana’s attorney general on a legal insufficiency finding, ruling out the original language submitted by the Transparent Election Initiative. The group had to resubmit the issue in January as a statutory initiative, which would enshrine it into state law, but not into the state constitution.
The initiative also faced a legal challenge in March from a group of corporations and special interest groups taking issue with the “significant First Amendment chill” they claimed the initiative would cause “to both entities and individuals.” The state Supreme Court declined that lawsuit, but some of the groups involved in it remain in opposition to the initiative. The Montana Chamber of Commerce, joined by both Kalispell’s and Billings’ chambers, wrote an op-ed in May, calling the initiative a “one-sided disarmament of Montana’s own voices.”
But several political heavyweights both inside and outside Montana’s borders have heralded the initiative as a way to remove big money from politics. Its supporters include former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot, former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also visited Montana earlier this spring to stump for the initiative.
Mangan in the Tuesday release said he expected the road to November to be a “David versus Goliath” fight.
“But the way we win is the same way we got here: real Montanans, in real communities, having real conversations,” Mangan said. “Over the next six months, we’re going to be everywhere — answering questions, sharing the facts, and looking voters in the eye. The Montana Plan is about a simple principle: real people should govern, not artificial persons created on paper. A vote for the Montana Plan (I-194) is a vote to put Montanans back in charge of Montana elections.”
Richie Melby, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, said Aug. 20 is the ballot certification deadline, which is when the initiative would officially be certified to appear on November’s ballot, along with certifying candidates and any other ballot issues that collect enough signatures to qualify.