By transitioning to Vote By Mail permanently, as 46 of 56 counties chose to in 2020, Montana can continue the excellent progress made to expand voter access and convenience. As states transition to Vote By Mail, during the first few election cycles states see a precipitous drop in in-person voting. Once this happens, Montana can save a substantial amount by consolidating polling locations into vote centers.

Creating an online portal for voters to register to vote and request an absentee ballot that feeds directly into the voter registration system is an important step to help verify addresses, collect contact information, and remove administrative steps to process a large amount of applications. We encourage an integrated process that allows new voters to register and allows current voters to make changes to their address and make requests for ballots in a seamless manner.

Providing prepaid postage is a voter-centric reform that ensures there are no financial barriers to the vote. While executive orders temporarily implemented prepaid postage in 2020, the state should make prepaid postage permanent for all future elections.

Ballot tracking software such as Ballot Scout or Ballot TRACE can be a very cost effective tool to improve Montana’s current ballot tracking system. It adds a layer of data for the elections office and provides a means of contacting voters if there is a signature mismatch or deficiency on their return envelope. An expanded notification system helps keep rejection rates low and increases voter confidence and participation.

With a drastic increase in mail ballots, Montana has a great opportunity to reach for the gold standard of post-election security by implementing risk limiting audits. To further increase data security, Montana should become a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which would help them ensure their voter roll data is accurate. Building upon this infrastructure, creating automatic voter registration would improve upon Montana’s same day voter registration to ensure that any eligible resident who wants to cast a ballot in an election can. Similarly, we recommend expanding same day voter registration to include election day, rather than just the very beginning of early voting.

Voters should have sufficient time to correct any issues with their ballot In the event that a voter’s ballot is rejected. Montana’s current cure deadline of election day leaves many voters behind. We recommend implementing a Text2Cure system that allows voters to cure their ballots from their phones.

Expanding accepting of ballots with Election Day postmarks received shortly after election day is a best practice to ensure that voters are given all options to vote their ballot in a timely manner, and one that Montana already follows: Montana already offers postmark acceptance for military and overseas voters. Accepting Election Day postmarks is estimated in most jurisdictions to decrease ballot rejection rates by half.

Offering secure drop boxes as another method for voters to return ballots is a cost-effective way to reduce strain on the postal system, and boxes are sometimes a preferred method by voters who want an extra bit of reassurance that their ballot makes it to the elections office on time. We highly recommend including provisions to allow for ballots to be received at polling places, vote centers, and drop boxes, as well as other locations deemed necessary by the clerk.

We highly recommend creating vote centers, or polling locations where any voter in the county can vote. This is a way to streamline the system so over time, as the share of the vote cast by mail increases, counties can have fewer overall polling locations, while individual voters will have more voting location options.

Current law only allows voters to cure any fixable issues with their ballots by election day, leaving out any voters whose ballots haven’t been processed by then so they have no chance to ensure their ballots aren’t needlessly rejected. Extending the amount of time voters have to cure issues with their ballot envelopes would reduce rejection rates, and we recommend allowing cures for at least 5 days after election and implementing a Text2Cure system that allows voters to cure their ballots from their phones.