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d. Individuals are encouraged to stay home and practice social distancing. Pl. Ex. 23 at 7-1OlStip. Ex. 4. e. Ballot collecting provides a safer altemative to in person voting. Pl. Ex.23 at710/Stip. Ex. 4. f. Ifa voter chooses to have their ballot collected by another person, they do have to travel to a mailbox or polling site; this eliminates travel costs, and during a pandemic, protects them from potential exposure to COVID-I9. Pl. Ex.23 at 1-3, 7-10lStip. Ex.4. g. States should not create long-term regulations based on the pandemic. Tr. Trans. 561:19-2.1;562:2-5 (Sept. 10,2020). However, the global pandemic has made the disparities created by BIPA in the Native American communities in Montana even more dramatic and apparent. 37. Since the passage of BIPA, Westem Native Vote and Montana Native Voice have been deterred from continuing their robust GOTV program and ballots in 2020 if BIPA is allowed to will have to cease collecting stay in effect. 09/08/20 Trial Tr. (Mclean) at 62:18-63:14. 38. BIPA completely stopped the Organizational Plaintiffs' ballot collection and delivery activities. 09108/20 Trial Tr. (Mcl-ean) at 62:18-63:14;09108120 Trial Tr. (Perez) at 79:6-12. 39. Other means ofvoting are insuffrcient to replace the loss ofthese organizations' ballot collection activities. Pl. Ex.22;09108120 Trial Tr. (Street) at 214:15-215:16. 40. If Organizational Plaintiffs will are unable to collect ballots, Fort Peck transit bus system not have the capacity to increase its bus service on Election Day. Pl. Ex. 43 1 14, fl 1 1.

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Western Native Voice v. Stapleton

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the Ballot Interference Prevention Act violates the Plaintiff’s right to vote, right to free speech, right to association, and due process.

Alleged Acts: Montana presents unique challenges as the fourth largest state in terms of land size, but the third least densely populated. Consequently, most voters utilize the absentee voting procedure. Montana also is home to seven Reservations, intersecting with sixteen different counties. These Reservations each have unique challenges to voting including a lack of home mail delivery, transportation that does not run on a regular route, taking administrative leave to drive in groups to polling stations, limited mail routes and drop-off locations, lack of convenient P.O. boxes, and mail delays. Further, many Native American Reservations have difficulties traveling due to high poverty levels, lack of working vehicles, car insurance, licenses to drive off of reservations, or money for gasoline to travel to polling stations. Some Native Americans on Montana Reservations have voted through the collection and conveyance of their ballot to local election offices by community members and third parties.

Summary: The Defendants failed to provide evidence that the state of Montana has or ever had a problem with unsolicited ballot collection or ballot interference. Thus, because the Ballot Prevention Act interferes with fundamental rights it is required to meet strict scrutiny. The Ballot Interference Prevention Acts limits the number of ballots per collector to six ballots and the court determined that this did not meet a compelling state interests, lack basis, and the voter were uninformed of this limitation at the time of voting — ultimately failing a strict scrutiny test.

Conclusion: The court found in favor of the Plaintiffs stating that the Ballot Interference Prevention Action violated the right to free speech, right to vote, right to association, and right to due process.

Legal Issue(s)

Elections as a Fundamental Right
Indigenous Persons
Vote Verification and Transmission

Applicable Law(s): Ballot Inference Prevention Act

Region: Americas

Country: United States of America

Language of Decision

English

Court: Trial Court

Election Type: Review of law

Date of decision: Sep 25, 2020

Geolocation

Latitude: 46.55684320353664

Longitude: -112.0529752389978

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

Western Native Voice v. Stapleton.pdf
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Western Native Voice v. Stapleton

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