Ballot access requirements for political parties in Montana

Ballot access for major and minor party candidates
Ballot access for presidential candidates
List of political parties in the United States
Methods for signing candidate nominating petitions
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Note: This article is not intended to serve as an exhaustive guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

Although there are hundreds of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

HIGHLIGHTS

As of May 2024, Montana officially recognized four political parties: the Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican parties. The No Labels Party of Montana is ballot-qualified for presidential and vice presidential elections only.

In some states, a candidate may choose to have a label other than that of an officially recognized party appear alongside his or her name on the ballot. Such labels are called political party designations. Montana allows candidates to use political party designations.

To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in Montana, see this article.

See state election laws

Process for a political party to obtain ballot status

Seal of Montana

See statutes: Title 13 of the Montana Code

Note: On November 8, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that Montana's signature-distribution requirement for party-qualifying petitions (described in more detail below) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is unclear how this decision will affect Montana's broader statutory scheme for forming a new political party. This article will be updated further as events unfold.

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In order to qualify to hold a primary election, aspirant political parties must petition the Montana Secretary of State for recognition.

A party qualifying petition must be signed by a number of registered voters equal to at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for the successful candidate for governor in the most general election, or 5,000 electors, whichever is less. In 2012, for example, 236,450 votes were cast for successful gubernatorial candidate Steve Bullock. Because 5 percent of that total is 11,823, aspirant parties were required until the election season following the gubernatorial race of 2016 to gather 5,000 valid signatures for qualifying petitions.

This number must include registered voters in more than one-third of the legislative districts equal to at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for the successful candidate for governor at the last general election in those districts, or 150 electors in those districts, whichever is less. In 2014, for example, 119 signatures were required from each of the 34 districts from the Montana House of Representatives.

One week before the petition is due to the secretary of state, the petition and affidavits of circulation must be presented to the election administrator of the county in which the signatures were gathered to be verified. The election administrator must forward the verified petition to the secretary of state at least 85 days before the date of the primary.

The form of the petition is prescribed by the secretary of state. Petition forms and affidavits of circulation can be obtained via the secretary of state's website.

All qualified political parties must submit to the secretary of state a copy of the current rules of party government. Further, county-level party committees must submit a copy of the current rules of party government to the county election administrator.

Maintaining party status

Political parties that fielded a candidate for statewide office in either of the last two general elections who received at least 5 percent of the total votes cast for the most recent successful candidate for governor maintain state-qualified status and may continue to nominate candidates by primary elections. To maintain qualified party status in 2014, for example, a party would have had to run a candidate for statewide office in either 2012 or 2010 who received at least 11,823 votes (5 percent of the votes cast for the successful gubernatorial candidate in 2012).

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States

As of May 2024, there were five recognized political parties in Montana. These are listed in the table below.

Party	Website link	By-laws/platform link
Democratic Party of Montana	Link	Party platform
Green Party of Montana	Link	Party platform
Libertarian Party of Montana	Link	Platform
Republican Party of Montana	Link	Party platform
No Labels Party of Montana	Link

Noteworthy events

2018

On March 5, 2018, the Green Party of Montana filed a petition for ballot status with the Montana Secretary of State. On March 12, 2018, the secretary of state's office determined that the Green Party's petition contained the requisite 5,000 valid signatures to qualify the party for ballot status. On April 2, 2018, James Larson, former chair of the state Democratic Party, Donald Judge, former executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO, and Jean Price, a Democratic state legislator, filed suit in Helena District Court against Corey Stapleton (R), in his capacity as secretary of state, and the Montana Green Party, alleging that the Green Party's petition failed to meet the requirements for ballot status. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the Green Party collected signatures from 30 state House districts, less than the 34 required by state law. The plaintiffs also alleged that there were invalid signatures on the petition that were incorrectly counted as valid. Stapleton dismissed the charges, saying, "We took the time to make a good decision. And if you gave us three more weeks, we would have come to the same conclusion."

Attorneys for the plaintiffs noted, in their court filing, that granting the Green Party ballot status would force Democrats "to divert their efforts and resources to educate and persuade voters to support Democratic candidates over candidates claiming to be affiliated with the Green party, as would be the case if any other unqualified political party were added to the ballot." In a statement to the Associated Press, Green Party spokesperson Danielle Breck said, "We are confident that our state and local election officials did their due diligence while counting the signatures and therefore believe that this frivolous lawsuit will be unsuccessful and will only serve to unnecessarily waste the state's resources."

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See also

• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Montana
• Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in Montana
• List of political parties in the United States
• Democratic Party of Montana
• Libertarian Party of Montana
• Republican Party of Montana

External links

• Montana Democratic Party
• Libertarian Party of Montana
• Montana Republican Party