(CN) — A Montana judge issued an injunction, on Wednesday, temporarily blocking four recently passed election laws which would have, according to plaintiffs, made it more difficult to vote for students, Native Americans and other groups.
In his 58-page ruling, Yellowstone County District Judge Michael Moses wrote that the plaintiffs had effectively made the case that the four laws may be unconstitutional.
Alora Thomas-Lundborg, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's voting rights project, called the ruling "an important victory."
"The court correctly found that these laws likely violate many provisions of the Montana Constitution, including the right to vote, equal protection, free speech, and due process," she said, in a written statement. "Montana politicians have tried and failed yet again to undermine Native American voters.”
The ruling comes from a consolidation of different cases in which a number of groups, including the Montana Democratic Party, Western Native Voice, a few Native American tribes and Montana Youth Action filed lawsuits to overturn four recently passed state laws: HB 506, SB 169, HB 176, and HB 530.
Republican lawmakers in Montana, which have controlled both houses in the state Legislature for more than 10 years, have said the four laws were intended to combat voter fraud and "ensure voter integrity." Perhaps the most impactful law, HB 176, would have ended same-day voter registration in the state, which has been in place since 2005, and has been used by thousands of voters in each election since. The new law would have pushed the deadline to register to vote back to noon on the day before Election Day.
In his ruling, Judge Moses said the plaintiffs had made a reasonably strong case that "HB 176 unconstitutionally burdens the right to vote because HB 176 eliminates an important voting option for Native Americans and will make it harder, if not impossible, for some Montanans to vote."
HB 530 banned the practice of paid ballot collection and delivery. Western Native Voice, a non-profit working to increase Native American participation in elections),argued that many of those living on reservations have a hard time making it to a polling place, or even to a post office to deliver a mail-in ballot.
"The mail system on reservations poses significant problems for absentee voting because most Native Americans do not have home mail delivery and some have non-traditional mailing addresses," according to a declaration they filed.
And the Montana Democratic Party presented evidence showing that at least 2,500 ballots were "collected and conveyed by third parties" between 2016 and 2018, arguing that “eliminating third party ballot collection will increase the number of rejected absentee ballots that arrive late and will do nothing to enhance election security.”
Moses agreed that "banning paid ballot collection will reduce the avenues to vote of many Montanans that rely on ballot collection."
Currently, voters in Montana must present a form of identification when voting in person. SB 169 would have removed a student ID card from the list of possible IDs to use while voting, forcing students to bring an additional document, such as utility bill, bank statement or confirmation of voter registration.
Judge Moses found convincing the Montana Democratic Party's argument that "additional hoops out-of-state students, transgender students, and young people will have to go through in order to meet the requirements for a secondary form of ID will raise the cost of voting."
HB 506 would have stopped sending anyone under 18 a ballot, even if that person was going to turn 18 before Election Day.
As to the issue of voter fraud, Judge Moses cited the Montana Democrats' expert witness, who said "voter fraud of any sort is vanishingly rare in Montana, with only a handful of cases over the last 20 years.”
The ruling temporarily enjoins Montana's Secretary of State from enforcing the four laws. A trial may ultimately decide their constitutionality.
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