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Bill would end requirement to post absentee‑voter lists at Montana polling places
Summary
Representative Julie Darling introduced House Bill 167 to remove the statute that requires election clerks to post printed absentee‑voter lists at polling locations; county election officials testified the requirement creates large, rarely used printouts and the information remains available electronically
Representative Julie Darling opened a hearing on House Bill 167, which would remove a requirement that election officials post printed absentee‑voter lists at polling places and would provide an immediate effective date.
Julie Darling, sponsor of the bill and a representative for House District 84, said the absentee lists were appropriate when absentee voting was rare but that many jurisdictions now see 60%–80% of ballots cast absentee. She said posting a printed absentee list at polling places can amount to “reams of paper” and is costly and unnecessary when clerks can make the same information available electronically and update lists daily.
Regina Plattenberg, clerk and recorder and election administrator for Ravalli County, testified on behalf of the Montana Association of Clerks and Recorders in support of the bill. Plattenberg said clerks can provide absentee lists electronically and that in many counties the printed lists are large and rarely requested by the public at polling places. “I don't think anyone's come to my office in at least 10 years and said, hey, print me this list,” she told the committee, adding that the precinct register and the provisional table already make absentee‑voter information available at polling locations.
Austin James, elections director in the Secretary of State's office, attended as an informational witness and said clerks would be the best source for many operational questions. James described the historical purpose of posting absentee information: early election procedures identified voters and how they voted in ways that would have made a printed absentee list useful for locating who had voted absentee. He said those conditions have changed and that current practices support removing the printed-list requirement.
Committee staff described an amendment to correct drafting issues in the introduced bill; the amendment seeks to strike subsection 4 and make conforming edits to subsection 3 and an internal reference to a certificate, which staff characterized as cleanup.
Darling closed by calling HB167 a cleanup and modernization measure and asked the committee for a due‑pass recommendation. The hearing record shows no committee vote; staff described the amendment and explained the cleanup nature of the language revisions.
