Montana Code 13-35-242. Political activity in public postsecondary institution residence hall, dining facility, or athletic facility — prohibition — exceptions — penalty
13-35-242. Political activity in public postsecondary institution residence hall, dining facility, or athletic facility — prohibition — exceptions — penalty. (1) A political committee may not direct, coordinate, manage, or conduct any voter identification efforts, voter registration drives, signature collection efforts, ballot collection efforts, or voter turnout efforts for a federal, state, local, or school election inside a residence hall, dining facility, or athletic facility operated by a public postsecondary institution.
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-35-242
- 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
- Individual: means a human being. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- 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
- Political committee: means a combination of two or more individuals or a person other than an individual who receives a contribution or makes an expenditure:
(i)to support or oppose a candidate or a committee organized to support or oppose a candidate or a petition for nomination;
(ii)to support or oppose a ballot issue or a committee organized to support or oppose a ballot issue; or
(iii)to prepare or disseminate an election communication, an electioneering communication, or an independent expenditure. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- School election: has the meaning provided in 20-1-101. 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
(2)Nothing in this section may be construed as prohibiting any communications made through mail, telephone, text messages, or electronic mail inside a residence hall, dining facility, or athletic facility or any political advertising made through radio, television, satellite, or internet service. Nothing in this section may be construed as prohibiting an individual from undertaking or participating in any activity for a federal, state, local, or school election if the activity is undertaken at the individual’s exclusive initiative.
(3)A person who resides in a residence hall operated by a public postsecondary institution or who regularly uses a dining hall operated by public postsecondary institution, a candidate for office in a federal, state, local, or school election, or a political committee engaged in a federal, state, local, or school election may institute an action in any court of competent jurisdiction to prevent, restrain, or enjoin a violation of this section.
(4)A political committee that violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 for each violation. Each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate offense.
(5)For the purposes of this section, “public postsecondary institution” means:
(a)a unit of the Montana university system as described in 20-25-201; or
(b)a Montana community college defined and organized as provided in 20-15-101.