Top-two primary proposal stalls in committee amid administrative concerns

Senate Bill 562, introduced by Senator Josh Kasmier, would create a top-two primary for many state and certain county offices so that the two candidates receiving the most votes in a primary—regardless of party—would advance to the general election.

Supporters said the system would increase competition, allow independents greater influence in primaries and produce general-election winners with broad support. Scott Walgren of Veterans for Montana Voters testified the change would help independents and create more competitive elections. Dan Brooks of the Billings Chamber of Commerce said the system would better include independent business members who currently face single-party primary ballots.

Ravalli County Election Administrator Regina Plettenberg, appearing for the Montana Association of County Clerks and Recorders, opposed the bill on administrative grounds. Plettenberg said the bill’s text appears to affect a subset of races (for example, it lists several offices down to county commissioner) and would create ballot design and tabulation challenges. She explained that tabulation equipment lacks a simple mechanism to support marking a party affiliation on a single ballot for partisan races while also counting nonpartisan and county-specific partisan races; she said the likely outcome would be multiple ballots for different races, increasing cost and voter confusion.

Committee members asked whether an effective date change or additional time would address clerks’ concerns. The sponsor said he was open to amendments and might pull local races out of the bill to simplify implementation. Plettenberg and other clerks indicated the bill would need additional drafting and lead time to be operational without significant expense.

On final action the committee recorded a roll-call vote: 3 in favor, 6 opposed. The bill failed in committee and was tabled without objection.