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Clerks press for preprinted ballot validation to ease huge hand‑stamping workloads
Summary
Senate Bill 242 would let counties use preprinted seals or validation marks on absentee ballots to reduce the time and ergonomic strain of hand-stamping thousands of ballots; clerks said current laws are antiquated and that other ballot-security measures remain in place.
Sen. Wendy McKamey told the committee she brought Senate Bill 242 to address inconsistent and labor-intensive hand-stamping of absentee ballots across counties and to allow preprinted validation marks on ballots.
Clerks and recorders described heavy workloads. Janelle Tucecke, clerk and recorder for Fergus County, said her office handled just under 20,000 absentee ballots in the June primary and that hand-stamping takes days for a small staff. "These countless hours could be used or put to much better use," she said.
Regina Plettenberg of the Montana Association of Clerk and Recorders echoed that the practice is antiquated and that modern security features on ballot stock and signature verification reduce the need for a manual stamp. Committee members raised security and public-confidence questions, asking whether preprinted marks could increase fraud risk or public suspicion if people expect a hand stamp. Plettenberg and the sponsor said other security measures—security envelopes, signature checks, machine-readable codes—remain in place and that preprinting would not remove those protections.
Members also asked whether the state could provide a uniform preprinted mark; the sponsor said uniformity and coordination with the Secretary of State would be part of implementation work and that preprinting could be tailored to county or ballot type. The hearing concluded without a vote; proponents urged a due pass and offered to work on details and optionality for smaller counties.
