Montana Code 13-19-106. General requirements for mail ballot election
13-19-106. General requirements for mail ballot election. A mail ballot election must be conducted substantially as follows:
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-19-106
- Ballot: means the ballot or set of ballots that is to be returned by a specified election day. See Montana Code 13-19-102
- 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
- Mail ballot election: means any election that is conducted under Title 13, chapter 19, by mailing ballots to all active electors. 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
- Place of deposit: means a location designated by the election administrator pursuant to 13-19-307 for a mail ballot election conducted under Title 13, chapter 19. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- Political subdivision: means a political subdivision of the state, including a school district. See Montana Code 13-19-102
- Secrecy envelope: means an envelope used to contain the elector's ballot and that is designed to conceal the elector's ballot and to prevent that elector's ballot from being distinguished from the ballots of other electors. See Montana Code 13-19-102
- Signature envelope: means an envelope that contains a secrecy envelope and ballot and that is designed to:
(a)allow election officials, upon examination of the outside of the envelope, to determine that the ballot is being submitted by someone who is in fact a qualified elector and who has not already voted; and
(b)allow it to be used in the United States mail. 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
- Voted ballot: means a ballot that is:
(a)deposited in the ballot box at a polling place;
(b)received at the election administrator's office; or
(c)returned to a place of deposit. See Montana Code 13-1-101
(1)Subject to 13-12-202, official mail ballots must be prepared and all other initial procedures followed as provided by law, except that mail ballots must be paper ballots and are not required to have stubs.
(2)An official ballot must be mailed to every qualified elector of the political subdivision conducting the election.
(3)Each signature envelope must contain a form that is the same as the form for absentee ballot signature envelopes and that is prescribed by the secretary of state for the elector to verify the accuracy of the elector’s address or notify the election administrator of the elector’s correct mailing address and to return the corrected address with the voted ballot in the manner provided by 13-19-306.
(4)The elector shall mark the ballot and place it in a secrecy envelope.
(5)(a) The elector shall then place the secrecy envelope containing the elector’s ballot in a signature envelope and mail it or deliver it in person to a place of deposit designated by the election administrator.
(b)Except as provided in 13-21-206 and 13-21-226, the voted ballot must be received before 8 p.m. on election day.
(6)Election officials shall first qualify the voted ballot by examining the signature envelope to determine whether it is submitted by a qualified elector who has not previously voted in the election.
(7)If the voted ballot qualifies and is otherwise valid, officials shall then open the signature envelope and remove the secrecy envelope, which must be deposited unopened in an official ballot box pursuant to the timeline specified in 13-13-241(7).
(8)Except as provided in 13-19-312, voted ballots must be counted and canvassed as provided in Title 13, chapter 15.