Montana Judge Strikes Down Law Requiring Birth Year on Absentee Ballots
A Montana judge on October 6 struck down HB 719, a state law requiring absentee ballot voters to write their year of birth on the ballot envelope, Montana Public Radio reported. The ruling is a victory for voting rights advocates who argued the requirement led to valid ballots being thrown out over trivial errors.
HB 719, passed by the Republican-led legislature, added the birth-year field as an extra verification step for mail ballots. Election officials reported that thousands of ballots were rejected in recent elections because voters left the field blank or wrote the information incorrectly.
The judge found the requirement served no meaningful anti-fraud purpose and disproportionately burdened voters, violating the state constitution's protections for the right to vote. The state is expected to appeal.
Voting rights groups celebrated the decision, saying it will protect thousands of Montanans — particularly elderly and rural voters — from having their ballots discarded. Supporters of the law said it was a common-sense safeguard and vowed to continue the legal fight.
(Source: Montana Public Radio)
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Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：蒙大拿州议会大厦（海伦娜）黄昏实景。摄影：David Wilson，CC BY 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
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