Montana Code 13-13-204. Authority to vote in person — printing error or ballot destroyed — replacement ballot — effect of absentee elector’s death
13-13-204. Authority to vote in person — printing error or ballot destroyed — replacement ballot — effect of absentee elector‘s death. (1) (a) If an elector has received but not voted an absentee ballot and the absentee ballot contains printing errors or omissions, the elector may receive a replacement or corrected ballot.
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-13-204
- 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
- Elector: means an individual qualified to vote under state law. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- issue: means a proposal submitted to the people at an election for their approval or rejection, including but not limited to an initiative, referendum, proposed constitutional amendment, recall question, school levy question, bond issue question, or ballot question. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- Person: means an individual, corporation, association, firm, partnership, cooperative, committee, including a political committee, club, union, or other organization or group of individuals or a candidate as defined in subsection (8). See Montana Code 13-1-101
- Printing: means the act of reproducing a design on a surface by any process. See Montana Code 1-1-203
- Provisional ballot: means a ballot cast by an elector whose identity or eligibility to vote has not been verified as provided by law. 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
- system: means any machine, device, technology, or equipment used to automatically record, tabulate, or process the vote of an elector cast on a paper ballot. See Montana Code 13-1-101
(b)The death of a candidate after the printing of the ballot constitutes a printing error or omission on the ballot.
(2)An elector may:
(a)request a replacement ballot from the election administrator pursuant to subsection (1) or if the original ballot is destroyed, spoiled, lost, or not received by the elector; or
(b)appear at the appropriate polling place on election day and vote in person after being issued a provisional ballot.
(3)A request for a replacement ballot submitted to the election administrator must be made on a form prescribed by the secretary of state and must be made in person, by regular or electronic mail, or by facsimile no later than 8 p.m. on election day.
(4)Upon receiving a request for a replacement ballot pursuant to subsection (3), the election administrator shall mark the original issued ballot as void in the statewide voter registration system and issue a replacement regular ballot to the elector.
(5)A replacement ballot may also be issued pursuant to 13-13-245.
(6)If an elector votes by absentee ballot and the ballot has been mailed to or received by the election administrator but the elector dies between the time of balloting and election day, the deceased elector’s ballot must be counted.