HELENA — By the time Montana’s 2026 elections roll around, there could be some big changes to the way people in the state vote – if the laws establishing those changes make it through legal challenges.
“Our members feel like there's no compromise on democracy or on access to our own democracy,” said Amanda Curtis, president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the state’s largest union.
(Watch the video for more on the election bills facing lawsuits.)
MFPE is one of several organizations that’s filed suit over election-related bills passed by the 2025 Montana Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte. Their lawsuit is challenging two laws: Senate Bill 276 and Senate Bill 490, both sponsored by Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka.
SB 276 changes the rules for what identification voters need to provide at the polls, including requiring any ID be “current, valid and readable,” and removing a procedure for someone to vote a provisional ballot without photo ID if they sign a declaration swearing they have a “reasonable impediment” to getting ID. MFPE argued those changes together would keep eligible Montanans from being able to vote.
SB 490 would limit Election Day registration. Currently, voters can go to their county election offices on Election Day and register and vote until the polls close at 8 p.m. During federal elections, SB 490 would close same-day registration at noon on Election Day – though it would open up a late registration period from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Saturday before the election.
Supporters of SB 490 said Election Day registration has put growing strain on county election staff, and that this was a way to limit that strain while still allowing people to register on the last day of the election season. But Curtis said the change would create more confusion for voters and make it harder for people working non-traditional hours to register.
“We need to be able to get off work on Election Day and go register and vote,” she said. “It's something that our members have felt pretty deeply and personally for quite some time.”
Groups like the ACLU of Montana and Western Native Voice have also sought to intervene in the case, specifically claiming that shortening Election Day registration would disproportionately harm Native Americans.
That case is currently filed in state district court in Lewis and Clark County.
Two other lawsuits against new election laws were also filed in state court. MontPIRG, an advocacy organization for students at the University of Montana and Montana State University, is challenging House Bill 413, sponsored by Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Three Forks. That bill says people coming to a Montana county for temporary purposes – including work, training or school – can’t register to vote there unless they plan to live there permanently afterwards.
Disability Rights Montana and Big Sky 55+ filed a suit against House Bill 719, from Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls. It requires that anyone voting absentee write their date of birth on their ballot envelope, so that election officials can check it matches with the date of birth they have in the voter’s file.
While both of these cases were initially in state court, Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s office, defending the laws, has attempted to move both to federal court. Defendants have the ability to remove a case from state to federal court on their own, if it deals with U.S. constitutional issues.
“Yet again, left-leaning organizations are taking aim at commonsense, duly-enacted laws that protect the integrity of our elections,” Emilee Cantrell, a spokesperson for Knudsen, said in a statement to MTN. ”We look forward to defending them in court, which includes exercising the right to remove cases to federal court when federal claims are raised, such as the challenges to HB 413 and HB 719.”
After Knudsen’s motion to remove the HB 413 lawsuit, MontPIRG’s attorneys submitted a revised complaint – removing claims that the law violated federal constitutional protections and focusing only on claims related to the Montana Constitution. They’ve moved to send the case back to state court, but no decision has been made yet.
The legal battles mean there are still open questions about what the 2026 elections will look like in Montana. We are now just 11 months away from federal and state primary elections in June 2026.
