Watch bills on voter referendums
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Many of you may have read or even watched on TV what happened in the Montana Senate on Friday, April 5. For those who still need a little more insight, here it is:
The minority in the Senate knew they were going to lose a vote on two bills they did not like, so they tried a procedural move to block the vote. If the move would have worked the bills would have missed a transmittal date to the House, and those bills probably would have died.
When the procedural move failed, the minority party decided to disrupt normal decorum in the Senate that resulted in some unbecoming behavior. The voting went on as normal amongst the shouting and the bills have been transmitted to the House.
There were two bills that were of concern to the minority party, and both of these bills are voter referendum, so they do not need the governor’s signature. Montana voters will make the final decision. The first bill is SB 408, which will allow Montana voters to decide whether they want to vote for the person, not for the party. It will create a system where all political parties — Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and everyone else — can run in the same primary election on the same ballot. The voter will then be able to vote for the person and will not have to select either a Republican or a Democrat ballot. Voters will be able to vote for any candidate in any party, and the top two vote getters will advance to the general election. An example of this is, had this law been in place in the 2012 primary, a voter would have been allowed to vote for Governor Steve Bullock and Attorney General Tim Fox in the primary on the same ballot. Currently a voter must choose either a Republican or a Democrat ballot in the primary.
The other bill that the minority tried to prevent from seeing a vote on the Senate floor was SB 405. That bill, another referendum, will allow the people of Montana to vote on whether they think voter registration should close at 5 p.m. the Friday before Election Day or continue to be allowed through Election Day.
I believe the people of Montana should be allowed to vote on these issues, so I’m looking forward to those bills coming to the House for our review. If you have any input about specific bills, please don’t hesitate to contact me by email at greghertz11@gmail.com or call or text me at 406-253-9505. You can also leave messages for individual legislators or committees by calling 406-444-4800. For more information on Montana’s 63rd legislative session, visit the legislature’s website at www.leg.mt.gov.
