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Panel warns moving Montana primary or school-election dates would create legal and administrative risks
Summary
A multi-stakeholder panel told SAVA that changing the timing of the primary or school elections risks funding and staffing disruptions for K–12 districts and significant logistical burdens for county election administrators; staff produced calendar scenarios and the committee deferred a final decision to the next meeting.
The State Administration and Veterans Affairs Committee resumed its HJ 48 study on moving Montana’s primary election and heard a multi-part panel including Office of Public Instruction staff, school finance and school-board representatives, and county election administrators.
Katie Bloodgood (OPI) told the committee that election timing affects turnout and representation but that statutory timelines for school board elections, staffing and budgeting are tightly interwoven with funding counts, nonpartisan rules and administrative capacity. She said changes would require careful planning to avoid unintended consequences.
Representatives of school finance and boards (MASBO, School Boards Association) emphasized timing risks tied to teacher notification deadlines and revenue estimates. Shay Bays of MASBO said moving school elections later could create funding uncertainty just as districts decide staffing for the fall, while Lance Melton noted that moving an election earlier could risk losing students counted for spring funding and that most changes trigger a large “domino effect” in statute.
Eric Semarrod, Gallatin County Election Administrator, described workload and list-maintenance implications for counties, especially large absentee-mail operations. He cautioned that moving a primary into March or April compresses voter-list maintenance, ballot printing and canvassing deadlines and may create expensive logistics for counties that mail tens of thousands of ballots.
Ms. Power summarized a committee survey and three calendar scenarios (move school earlier/primary later; move primary earlier/school later; or combine elections). Survey responses favored no change (5 members) or moving both earlier by about a month (4 members); combining scored poorly. Power provided color-coded sketches showing how candidate filing, voter registration deadlines and absentee mailings would overlap in the proposed options.
After extended discussion, the committee voted to defer making a final decision and asked members to review the materials and be prepared to act at the next meeting.
Ending: The committee scheduled additional work on HJ 48; staff will deliver refined calendars, turnout data and legal implications before the next session.
