Senate Bill Bill 169 is about adding new criteria to the existing Montana mail registration process for voting. The legislators in Helena seem to feel that changes and improvements need to be made. Have the legislators gathered real data to support their assumptions? Have they carefully interviewed experienced election staff in different counties who routinely preregister voters? Where is the evidence that change is needed? In fact, the state of Montana has had an excellent record for preregistering voters by mail for years. Our county election officials have worked diligently to create an excellent system. Why are the legislators trying to change something that is not broken?
Many who preregister to vote by mail are older citizens who appreciate the convenience of voting by mail. There are disabled individuals who cannot easily get around. Others are people working
long hours who vote by mail because they cannot get to a voting center and, or they have no transportation to do so. And there are many more people who choose and trust the current process of voting by mail. If a driver’s license is required, not everyone who wants to vote has one. If a utility bill is required, not everyone who wants to vote has one. The matching signature requirement has proven sufficient and worked well.
Who is going to pay for the extra election staff to manage the unnecessary new requirements? Why change something that does not need fixing? Surely there are many other projects in MT that need the productive time and attention of our legislators. So who is really being served with the passage of SB 169?
Catherine Nelson
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letter to the Editor 3/4/21