Montana Code 13-35-207. Deceptive election practices
13-35-207. Deceptive election practices. A person is guilty of false swearing, unsworn falsification, or tampering with public records or information, as appropriate, and is punishable as provided in 45-7-202, 45-7-203, or 45-7-208, as applicable, whenever the person:
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-35-207
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Affidavit: means a sworn written declaration made before an officer authorized to administer oaths or an unsworn written declaration made under penalty of perjury as provided in 1-6-105. See Montana Code 1-1-203
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
- Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
- 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
- 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)falsely represents the person’s name or other information required upon the person’s voter registration form and causes registration with the form;
(2)signs a voter registration form knowingly witnessing any false or misleading statement;
(3)knowingly causes a false statement, certificate, or return of any kind to be signed;
(4)falsely makes a declaration or certificate of nomination;
(5)files or receives for filing a declaration or certificate of nomination knowing that all or part of the declaration or certificate is false;
(6)forges or falsely makes the official endorsement of a ballot;
(7)forges or counterfeits returns of an election purporting to have been held at a precinct, municipality, or ward where no election was in fact held;
(8)knowingly substitutes forged or counterfeit returns of election in place of the true returns for a precinct, municipality, or ward where an election was held;
(9)signs a name other than the person’s own to a petition, signs more than once for the same ballot issue, or signs a petition while not being a qualified elector of the state; or
(10)makes a false oath or affidavit where an oath or affidavit is required by law.