Montanans are exercising their Constitutional right to try to amend the state Constitution through the initiative process in 2024. You may be approached by supporters of CI-126 and CI-127 to sign petitions to put proposed Constitutional amendments on the ballot for the general election in November that would significantly alter our partisan election system.
Currently, Montana uses primary elections to nominate party candidates who advance to the general election. In a primary election, voters select one qualified political party’s ballot and choose from that party’s slate of candidates for various elected offices. Party winners are the party’s nominee for office.
CI-126 would establish “open primaries” in Montana. Open primaries allow voters to choose candidates from multiple political parties, rather than being limited to one party. The primary ballot would list all candidates from all parties and independents for each office. Voters would be able to vote for one candidate per office, and could vote, for example, for a Republican for one office and a Democrat for another. Open primaries could increase voter turnout for primary elections. CI-126 would apply to the state offices of:
governor and lieutenant governor,
secretary of state,
auditor,
attorney general,
superintendent of public instruction,
state representative,
state senator,
United States Representative and
United States Senator.
CI-126 would reduce the power of political parties in selecting nominees; candidates could choose their party affiliation, without having to be endorsed by a party organization, or run as independents, with no party designation. The top four vote-getters for each office would advance to the general election. All four candidates could be from one political party.
With four candidates on the general election ballot, the total vote would be split four ways, and the winning candidate could have as little as 26% voter support. CI-127 would require the winner to have a majority of the vote, ensuring that the candidate has the support of more than 50% of voters. Whether CI-126 passes or not, if CI-127 is adopted by the voters, the Montana Legislature will have to pass legislation to define how elections will operate to result in winners getting more than a 50% majority of the votes cast.
Some states hold run-off elections between the top two candidates, should the general election fail to produce a majority candidate. Other states use ranked choice voting, a system that allows voters to rank all candidates on the ballot in order of the voter’s preferences. These rankings are then used to determine which candidate has the most support, factoring in second choice ranked candidates if the first-choice rankings didn’t result in a majority winner, etc. until the candidate with majority support is identified.
Currently, Montana has many voting districts that are not politically competitive: one party always wins the seat. This is true for both political parties. Voter turnout for primaries is far lower than for general elections, and primary voters typically are highly motivated and have more extreme partisan views. As a result, for these noncompetitive seats, a small minority of partisan voters in the primary determines the candidate who will win in the general election, a candidate who is often more extreme than the party’s general membership and the general population of the district.
Representative democracy is stronger when elected candidates reflect the views of most of the voters in their districts, not the views of a party fringe group or extremists. CI-126 and CI-127 could ensure that election winners more accurately represent the views and values of the majority of voters in their districts.
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