The Montana Democratic Party is suing the state over its new laws that aim to strengthen voter ID and registration rules.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, one day after Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed two bills into law, including one that would terminate same-day voter registration and another that updates which IDs can be used for voting, forcing some voters to present two forms at the ballot box.
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“These laws violate everything we believe as Americans, and everything we believe as Montanans. They intentionally impede peoples’ voting rights,” said Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Sandi Luckey, according to the Missoula Current.
The party alleges the bills are unconstitutional when it comes to equal protection under the law, saying younger voters will be more affected by the laws than older ones.
“Montana’s legislators knew that both the Voter ID Restrictions and the Election Day Registration Ban would place heightened burdens on Montana’s youngest voters when it passed both laws,” the complaint says. “The Montana Legislature heard direct testimony from both student voters and advocacy organizations that both laws would impose barriers on the franchise for young voters; it passed the bill anyway in direct contravention of Montana’s Equal Protection Clause.”
Republican state Sen. Mike Cuffe, who sponsored the ID bill, rejected claims that voting fraud took place in the last election but said there should be more checks in place to guarantee Montana residents are the only ones voting in state elections.
“I’m not saying, nowhere in the bill are we indicating that there is any claim of voter fraud or any wrongdoing,” said Cuffe on the Senate floor in February. “What we’re looking at here is attempting to improve on the system, to make a good sense process better, to ensure that all members all around the state can feel very satisfactory that folks who have signed up to vote are Montana citizens.”
The bills passed on party lines in Montana’s GOP-dominated Legislature.
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The Democrats’ lawsuit was filed by Mike Meloy of Helena, and Matthew Gordon of Seattle aims to have the ban on same-day registration struck down and the voter ID rule deemed unconstitutional.
The suit was filed in Yellowstone County, which houses Billings, and is assigned to Judge Mary Knisely, who administered the oath of office to Gianforte. Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen was named as a defendant in her role overseeing statewide elections and voter registration.
