Montana’s Joint Select Committee on Election Security inched closer to releasing its final policy proposal of the 2023 session this week as a March 28 deadline looms.
The six-member committee introduced a trio of bills just ahead of this month’s transmittal break, two targeting county processes related to vote tabulating machines and one addressing maintenance of county absentee voter lists. All three quickly passed through the Senate.
Now the committee has turned its attention to violations of Montana election laws, working to develop language on how those laws should be enforced. A handful of citizens have repeatedly appeared before the committee with claims that state and local election officials are ignoring public records requests and allegations of misconduct in recent elections. That testimony has helped convince Democratic and Republican committee members of the broader need to create a more well-defined governmental process for addressing the public’s concerns.
Monday’s meeting was slated to be the select committee’s last, but members struggled to reach consensus on where to vest that enforcement authority. Democrats suggested it should fall to the commissioner of political practices, and Republicans argued in favor of granting it to the Montana Attorney General’s office. Rep. Steven Galloway, R-Great Falls, said the latter seems to be the “natural place” to fund such efforts, noting that the Texas Attorney General’s office has its own investigative unit dedicated to election integrity.
“Alright, why not allocate them to COPP? But what tasks will they be assigned in the absence of any investigations or tasks?” Galloway pondered. “If we place them in the AG’s office, there are plenty of assignments they could tackle.”
“From my observation in discussions with the commissioner of political practices, they are already understaffed in terms of investigating the other kind of stuff that we’re all familiar with about candidates and so on,” responded Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman. “So if they had another investigator, I would bet anything they’d be tickled pink.”
Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office, in reply to an inquiry from Montana Free Press on Monday, stated that allegations of election misconduct are presently addressed individually, with multiple government entities sharing investigative and prosecutorial authority, resulting in a convoluted overlap.
The latest working draft of the committee’s enforcement bill proposes the former route, establishing two new full-time positions at the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute election law allegations leveled against citizens or against election officials. The positions — one investigator and one prosecutor — would be under the direct supervision of the attorney general. The draft also includes a $175,000 annual appropriation to fund the new positions.
The language was created by committee members in late February. However, during Monday’s meeting, Stafman mentioned that he had recently discovered that the COPP office already has jurisdiction over a section of state law that defines different illegal election activities. This led to a discussion about whether the draft should be revised to grant authority to the commissioner’s office. The committee engaged in a lengthy debate regarding the best approach for their proposal. Both sides generally agreed that a state agency should be responsible for this task. Galloway expressed worry that assigning election enforcement to county attorneys could lead to conflicts of interest if allegations are made against county election employees.
The disagreement on where to proceed from there hung in part on the potential for political bias. Stafman argued the COPP is tasked with maintaining an impartial stance on official matters. Galloway and Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, pushed back on that assessment.
“The political nature of the commissioner of political practices position is evident,” stated Manzella. “Their main responsibility revolves around campaign finance, which keeps them occupied investigating us, lobbyists, and out-of-state interests that violate our laws in that small, cramped office down there.”
Stafman responded by presenting the same point. He acknowledged that Attorney General Austin Knudsen is a diligent individual, but he believed that Knudsen, like his predecessor, is heavily involved in political matters. Stafman emphasized that the main difference lies in how the public perceives them. According to him, Montanans generally see the COPP as an unbiased mediator in politically contentious conflicts. In contrast, Knudsen has publicly participated in various national lawsuits against policies enacted by President Joe Biden’s administration.
According to Stafman, he believes that the individual in question performs excellently in his assigned role. However, Stafman also notes that this person tends to adopt a highly partisan approach. Stafman suggests that in order to enhance election integrity, it would be preferable to entrust this responsibility to someone who is as unbiased and impartial as possible.
The committee’s other Democrat, Sen. Shane Morigeau of Missoula, attempted to broker a compromise. He recommended directing election law violations that are currently under the commissioner’s jurisdiction to the COPP, and directing more egregious allegations such as bribery or corruption to the attorney general. Either way, Morigeau said, the committee needs to do something to address recent citizen concerns and give Montanans a clear, centralized place to go with any election-related concerns.
“Morigeau emphasized the evident necessity and urged us not to overlook an opportunity to tackle a void that I believe exists among the people of Montana.”
Ultimately the enforcement proposal will need to be approved by five committee members in order to advance in the Legislature. Acknowledging that consensus was still out of reach, committee chair Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, scheduled one more meeting for March 23, at which point action has to be taken to meet a March 28 deadline for introduction of appropriations bills.
