13-10-203. Indigent candidates. If an individual is unable to pay a filing fee, the filing officer shall accept the following documents in lieu of a filing fee:

Terms Used In Montana Code 13-10-203

  • Candidate: means :

    (a)an individual who has filed a declaration or petition for nomination, acceptance of nomination, or appointment as a candidate for public office as required by law;

    (b)for the purposes of chapter 35, 36, or 37, an individual who has solicited or received and retained contributions, made expenditures, or given consent to an individual, organization, political party, or committee to solicit or receive and retain contributions or make expenditures on the individual's behalf to secure nomination or election to any office at any time, whether or not the office for which the individual will seek nomination or election is known when the:

    (i)solicitation is made;

    (ii)contribution is received and retained; or

    (iii)expenditure is made; or

    (c)an officeholder who is the subject of a recall election. See Montana Code 13-1-101

  • Election: means a general, special, or primary election held pursuant to the requirements of state law, regardless of the time or purpose. See Montana Code 13-1-101
  • Election administrator: means , except as provided in subsection (14)(b), the county clerk and recorder or the individual designated by a county governing body to be responsible for all election administration duties, except that with regard to school elections not administered by the county, the term means the school district clerk. See Montana Code 13-1-101
  • Individual: means a human being. See Montana Code 13-1-101
  • Political subdivision: means a county, consolidated municipal-county government, municipality, special purpose district, or any other unit of government, except school districts, having authority to hold an election. See Montana Code 13-1-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(1)from a successful write-in candidate, a statement that the candidate is unable to pay the filing fee;

(2)from a candidate for nomination, a statement that the candidate is unable to pay the filing fee and a written petition for nomination as a candidate that meets the following requirements:

(a)the petition contains the name of the office to be filled and the candidate’s name and residence address;

(b)the petition contains signatures numbering 5% or more of the total vote cast for the successful candidate for the same office at the last general election;

(c)the signatures are those of electors residing within the political subdivision of the state in which the candidate petitions for nomination; and

(d)the signatures have been submitted to the appropriate election administrator at least 1 week prior to the applicable deadline in 13-10-201(7) and have been certified by the appropriate election administrator by the procedure provided in 13-27-303 and 13-27-304.