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Bill would let county election administrators use trained judges from anywhere in the county for school elections
Summary
Rep. David Beatty’s bill would allow county election administrators conducting school-district elections to staff them with any trained, certified county election judges who are not disqualified by MCA 20-20-109(2), expanding the pool beyond district residents; proponents said the change eases administration, especially in cross-county districts.
Representative David Beatty introduced House Bill 125 to allow a county election administrator conducting a school district election to staff that election with any trained and certified election judge in the county who is not rendered ineligible under MCA 20-20-109(2), rather than limiting judges to those who reside within the district. "What we're attempting to do here is increase the size of the pool of qualified election judges who are able to help conduct school district elections," Beatty said.
The Montana Association of Clerk and Recorders, represented by Regina Plattenberg, urged the committee to support the bill as an operational fix. Plattenberg said counties often run multiple school elections using counting boards made up of judges from across the county, and the bill would simply make routine staffing easier. She told the committee a friendly amendment addressing school districts that cross county lines had been prepared and would be acceptable.
Committee members probed logistics. Representative Byrne asked whether the bill would change who by default runs a school election; Plattenberg clarified that schools run their own elections by default and may contract a county election administrator to do so, and the bill would only alter the residency requirement for judges when the county runs the election. The exchange noted practical constraints such as tight certification and printing timelines for school ballots.
Beatty closed by underscoring the measure's narrow scope: it does not attempt to solve broader scheduling or consolidation issues for school elections but would give election administrators more flexibility to staff county-run school elections. The committee closed the hearing on HB125 with no recorded opposition in the room or online.
The next step for HB125 will be executive action, where the committee may consider the friendly amendment addressing cross-county districts.
