Montana Code 13-12-205. Arrangement of names — rotation on ballot
13-12-205. Arrangement of names — rotation on ballot. (1) The candidates’ names must be arranged alphabetically on the ballot according to surnames under the title of the respective offices and rotated as provided in this section.
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-12-205
- Ballot: means a paper ballot counted manually or a paper ballot counted by a machine, such as an optical scan system or other technology that automatically tabulates votes cast by processing the paper ballots. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- 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
- primary election: means an election held on a date specified in 13-1-107 to nominate candidates for offices filled at a general election. See Montana Code 13-1-101
(2)(a) If two or more individuals are candidates for nomination or election to the same office, the election administrator shall divide the ballot forms into sets equal in number to the greatest number of candidates for any office. The candidates for nomination to an office by each political party must be considered separately in determining the number of sets necessary for a primary election.
(b)The election administrator shall begin with a form arranged alphabetically and rotate the names of the candidates so that each candidate‘s name will be at the top of the list for each office on substantially an equal number of ballots. If it is not numerically possible to place each candidate’s name at the top of the list, the names must be rotated in groups so that each candidate’s name is as near the top of the list as possible on substantially an equal number of ballots.
(c)If the county contains more than one legislative district, the election administrator may rotate each candidate’s name so that it will be at or near the top of the list for each office on substantially an equal number of ballots in each house district.
(d)For purposes of rotation, the offices of president and vice president and of governor and lieutenant governor must be considered as a group.
(e)No more than one of the sets may be used in preparing the ballot for use in any one precinct, and all ballots furnished for use in any precinct must be identical.