Supreme Court Rejects GOP Bid to Stop Montana Mail-in Ballots
Supreme Court Justice Rejects GOP Bid on Montana Mail-in Ballots
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court cleared Montana election officials to send mail-in ballots to the vast majority of the state’s voters, rejecting a last-ditch Republican bid to block the plan.
The rebuff is a victory for Democratic governor and U.S. Senate candidate Steve Bullock, preserving his Aug. 6 order letting counties choose to send ballots to their voters to help protect against spread of the coronavirus.
Justice Elena Kagan turned down the request on Thursday without explanation. The order didn’t preclude the Republicans from turning to another justice, but their lawyer, Jim Bopp, said the group was “out of time.”
Ballots are set to be sent out on Friday.
“Governor Bullock has now designed an election procedure that he thinks benefits his Senate election and, by doing it at the last minute, the courts have given him carte blanche to trample all over the Montana legislature and voters’ constitutional rights,” Bopp said in an email.
Officials in 45 of Montana’s 56 counties opted to send out ballots. The 45 counties represent 94% of the state’s electorate. Voters will also be able to cast ballots in person throughout the state.
At the Supreme Court, a group of Republican voters, candidates and party officials contended Bullock’s order violated a U.S. constitutional provision that says state legislatures get to set the rules for the presidential election.
Montana law bars the use of mail ballots for regularly scheduled federal elections. In issuing his order, Bullock pointed to a separate provision that lets the governor suspend many state laws to cope with an emergency or disaster.
Last month U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen rejected GOP claims that the plan would lead to widespread fraud. Christensen said Republicans hadn’t pointed to a single instance of fraud in Montana in the last 20 years.
Montana used mail ballots during this year’s primary election. Christensen said the sparsely-populated state has a long history of absentee voting, with rates as high as 73% of the electorate.
The case is Lamm v. Bullock, 20A61.
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