Montana Democracy Ballot Initiatives Challenge (Lake County)

Sharp. v. Jacobsen

Filed: July 12, 2024

Lawsuit filed by several Republican voters and state legislative candidates in Lake County, Montana and Republicans For Freedom (RFF) challenging Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s (R) ability to certify two ballot initiatives. The plaintiffs allege that Jacobsen is not performing her due diligence to verify that the petitions were signed only by registered voters, that the signatures matched the ones on voter registration records or that the appropriate number of signatures were from voters in every county as required by the state constitution and state law. They argue that because Jacobsen has not taken these steps, the initiatives should not be certified. The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the petitions invalid and block Jacobsen and her office from taking any further steps to certify them.

The plaintiffs filed their complaint on July 12, 2024. On July 16, Jacobsen agreed to the Republican plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order.

On July 22, plaintiffs in a separate case challenging Jacobsen’s directive not to count signatures from inactive voters filed a motion to intervene in this case. They allege the Republican plaintiffs and Jacobsen colluded in an effort to block the temporary restraining order entered in their case.

STATUS: Upon learning of the temporary restraining order in the other case, the judge reversed the plaintiffs’ temporary restraining order in this case. The order requiring Jacobsen to count signatures from inactive registered voters issued by a different court remains in effect. Litigation is ongoing.