Constitutional Initiatives 126 and 127 are costly experiments that would complicate Montana’s elections. CI-126 allows the top four primary finishers to advance to the general, regardless of their party affiliation. This weakens political parties and the ability of voters to join with other like-minded citizens to choose a candidate who represents their values and policies. Additionally, by increasing the number of candidates, CI-126 opens the doors to more special interest money and greater polarization.
CI-127 requires candidates to receive over 50% of the vote to be declared winner, even though our elections already consistently deliver majority winners. To ensure a majority, Montana would have to adopt either runoff elections or ranked-choice voting. Runoffs extend political campaigns and elections by many weeks, making them more expensive and less convenient. To cover the extra administrative costs, lawmakers would either need to slash the state budget or increase property taxes.
These initiatives are bad for voters and bad for Montana. Protect our elections: vote No on CI-126 and 127.
