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Committee considers electronic ballot return for voters with disabilities
Summary
Representative Julie Darling asked the committee to allow electronic return of absentee ballots for voters with disabilities, arguing the change would extend privacy and independence for voters who currently must print, sign and mail paper ballots.
Representative Julie Darling opened the hearing on House Bill 488, describing the bill as a narrow change to expand an existing electronic ballot request system so that eligible voters with disabilities can electronically return completed absentee ballots without needing to print, sign and mail a paper envelope.
“Currently disabled voters can request a ballot electronically, but in order to return it, they have to print and sign it,” Representative Julie Darling said, describing the privacy and mobility barriers that can prevent some Montanans from voting independently.
Advocates and disability organizations provided several firsthand accounts. Jacob Krysovich of the National Federation of the Blind of Montana said traveling to a polling place can take him two hours by transit and that the current absentee‑return requirement can force voters to rely on others to sign or deliver ballots, compromising ballot secrecy. “I should have the same rights as every other Montanan to vote, confidently and independently,” he said.
Other proponents included Ability Montana, Summit Independent Living, Disability Rights Montana and Secure Democracy. Jim Marks, who testified about previous use of accessible voting machines and earlier electronic systems, said the current electronic request system gets voters “part of the way there, but not all the way,” and praised the bill to complete the process.
Elections officials also appeared in support. Connor Fitzpatrick, Lewis and Clark County elections supervisor, said the underlying electronic ballot request system is already in place and comparable to the UOCAVA (military/overseas) process; the bill would align the return process for voters with disabilities with that existing workflow.
Committee members asked about safeguards and eligibility. Witnesses said applicants must affirm they meet the statutory definition of a voter with a disability; Plattenberg (Montana Association of Clerk and Recorders) said election administrators will maintain logs and that large‑scale abuse has not materialized in states using similar systems. Witnesses pointed to federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requirements and the UOCAVA process as comparable precedents.
Representative Darling closed by urging a do‑pass, saying the change would give voters with disabilities the same private, independent voting experience available to other groups already using electronic return (for example, some overseas voters). No committee vote or final disposition was recorded in the session transcript.
The hearing record included multiple disability‑led organizations and county election officials who emphasized the accessibility, privacy and modest fiscal impacts of the proposed change.
