Secretary of State-backed bill would let agency adopt rules to clear provisional and pending registrations

Representative Kathy Love opened the hearing on House Bill 423, describing the bill as a secretary-of-state-backed cleanup to allow rulemaking for list maintenance of provisional and pending voter registrations. Love said the change was intended to help counties verify addresses and remove voters who never completed required identification verification.

Austin James, speaking on behalf of Secretary of State Kristy Jacobson, described an ‘‘accidental loophole’’ under which provisional registrants sometimes are placed on inactive lists without adequate verification and urged the committee to support a due pass. Regina Plattenberg of the Montana Association of Clerk and Recorders said the bill would give clerks clearer procedures for handling provisional and pending voters and noted the bill would help avoid placing provisional registrants permanently into an unverified status.

Committee members asked whether provisional voters would still receive notices and how rulemaking would preserve outreach. Director James said current NVRA mailing obligations remain and that the bill shifts provisional-list maintenance into a rulemaking process that will include outreach steps determined with clerks and interested parties. He explained the post-session rulemaking timeline and interim-committee review process.

The sponsor closed by saying HB 423 provides needed administrative flexibility and asked the committee for a due pass. No formal action was recorded at the hearing.