Recent legislative actions in Montana have made access to voting harder. Restricting eligible voters’ access to voting does not equate to more secure elections. For example, let’s look at the new voting law HB 176, “eliminating same-day voter registration on Election Day,” to see if it truly protects our elections by making voting less accessible to Montanans.
From 2006 to 2018, approximately 60,000 Montanans registered and voted on Election Day without a single case of voter fraud. 2020 recorded the second-highest use of same-day voter registration by Montanans (nearly 8,200 Montanans) to vote in this election—and again without a single case of voter fraud. That means more and more Montanans are choosing this method to vote in each upcoming election. But now in 2022 with this new law in place, there will be zero Montanans using same-day voter registration to vote. It should also be noted that in 2014, 56% of Montanans voted to keep same-day voter registration as law when legislative referendum LR-126 to end same-day voter registration was voted on and defeated.
Did this new law further protect our elections when a more secure process of registering voters in person on Election Day is now banned? Why prevent Montanans from having the same access to voting rights as the previous 68,000 Montanans over the last 15 years who could register and vote on Election Day if it does not crack down on voter fraud or provide more election security?
