Article Summary –
Several initiatives in Montana aimed at qualifying for the fall ballot have failed to meet the required signature thresholds, partly due to insufficient funding and resources. However, three major initiatives, Constitutional Initiatives 126 and 127 targeting election reforms, and Constitutional Initiative 128 advocating for abortion rights, have likely qualified due to substantial financial backing and paid signature gatherers. The unsuccessful initiatives, such as those concerning rodeo, lawyer licensing, grand juries, and hunting, struggled due to their grassroots nature and lack of significant financial support, highlighting the financial challenges in mounting successful citizen initiatives.
Backers behind four initiatives gathering signatures to qualify for the fall ballot announced this week they haven’t met the tens of thousands of required voter signatures.
While Montana’s secretary of state is still determining which measures will qualify for the November ballot, groups behind three other measures publicly stated they surpassed their signature goals by the June 21 deadline for county election office verification.
The proposals likely to make the ballot are Constitutional Initiatives 126 and 127, which aim to discourage partisanship in Montana’s elections, and Constitutional Initiative 128, which seeks to enshrine abortion access rights in the state Constitution.
The four less prominent measures were:
Supporters of these four lower-profile measures told Montana Free Press they failed to meet the thresholds of 60,359 signatures for constitutional initiatives and 30,180 for non-constitutional ones. Both types also require collecting signatures in a number of state legislative districts.
Most backers noted their low-budget efforts couldn’t match the major campaigns’ spending and paid signature gatherers.
“I don’t have $2 million to gather signatures,” said Tony Hudson, sponsor of the rodeo initiative.
Hudson mentioned he could probably get the Legislature to endorse rodeo but chose a grassroots effort to engage young people instead of lobbying at the Capitol.
In other cases, backers turned to initiatives after similar proposals failed in the Legislature.
The lawyer licensing initiative mirrored 2023’s unsuccessful House Bill 956. The initiative’s sponsor, Nicole Bennett, was a 12-year-old homeschooled in Red Lodge when the measure was cleared for signature gathering. Her mother, Lisa Bennett, acknowledged her daughter’s efforts weren’t enough to clear the bar.
“She put in a lot of work this year, and I don’t know if she’ll want to do it again,” Lisa Bennett said.
Similarly, the grand jury initiative, sponsored by Montana State Council on Judicial Accountability President Bart Crabtree, was a retread of 2023’s failed House Bill 405. Crabtree said via text message the initiative fell short, citing limited volunteer efforts despite high interest among those who understood the facts.
Rick Schoening of Polson, backer of the hunting initiative, said his local lawmakers weren’t successful with a similar bill. He considered a signature-gathering company but found the cost between $18 and $20 per signature prohibitive.
“A citizen initiative is nice in name, but without a million dollars in backing, it won’t happen. It’s really sad,” Schoening said.
The groups behind the successful initiatives, Montanans for Election Reform and Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, reported spending $3.4 million and $969,000 on their campaigns, much from out-of-state donors.
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