Ballot Birth Year Requirement Helps Montana Prevent Fraud in First Election Test

HELENA, MT — Montana’s new election security measures proved effective in Tuesday’s municipal elections, with fraud prevention tools successfully identifying potentially fraudulent ballots while maintaining smooth operations statewide.

House Bill 719, sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell (R-Columbia Falls) at the request of the Secretary of State’s office and implemented for the first time this election cycle, required voters to include their birth year along with signatures on ballot envelopes. Mitchell described the law as a “common-sense practice” that aligns absentee voting with in-person requirements. The additional verification step helped election officials prevent fraud in multiple documented cases, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, in one western Montana county, the birth year requirement helped correct voter registration errors. In another instance, officials rejected a ballot with an incorrect birth year after a family member indicated the registered voter could not have cast it, potentially stopping fraudulent voting.

“This helps us when we are checking voter status. We have households that have three people with the same name,” one election administrator told the Secretary of State’s office. “When we are checking ballots to ensure no one is voting more than once, having the birth year will be very helpful.”

The security measures operated efficiently across the state, with only 1% of ballots rejected due to incorrect or missing birth years as of Wednesday afternoon. That rejection rate may decrease further as voters have until 5 p.m. today to resolve issues with their ballots.

More than 180,000 Montanans participated in Tuesday’s elections, achieving roughly 50% voter turnout for municipal races including mayor and city commission seats.

Several county election officials praised the implementation of the new verification requirements. One election administrator noted the birth year addition “significantly improved our ability to verify signatures, especially for individuals with identical or similar names, as it eliminates the need to manually differentiate between them.”

Officials reported no instances of voters claiming someone else had voted on their behalf during Tuesday’s election, marking the first such occurrence in recent years, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

The successful implementation came despite what officials described as “misleading reports” about the new requirement in the weeks leading up to the election. State and local election officials encouraged voters to verify their ballot status through the state’s tracking system.

“State and local election officials remind Montana voters that they can ensure their ballot was accepted by visiting the state portal and utilizing the Track My Ballot feature,” Jacobsen said in the release.

Voters who need to resolve rejected ballots can complete forms online and return them to county election officials or email them to the Secretary of State’s office. Several voters had already resolved ballot issues by Wednesday morning.

The election results demonstrate how new security protocols can enhance election integrity while maintaining accessibility for Montana voters.