Montana court blocks onerous mail voting law that caused thousands of rejected absentee ballots last year

Absentee ballot voters in Montana won’t have to comply with an onerous birthdate verification requirement after a state court blocked the measure Friday night, ruling that it violates the state constitution. 

The decision is a victory for disabilities advocates who had argued that the requirements increased the likelihood that valid ballots cast by those with difficulties getting to a physical polling place would be rejected on technicalities.

Under HB 719, signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte in May 2025, absentee ballot voters had to add their birthdate to their ballot envelopes or else their votes wouldn’t be counted. This led to nearly 3,000 mail ballots getting rejected in the November 2025 election, in a state where 80% of voters vote absentee.

Montana Republicans claimed the new birthdate stipulation was needed to prevent voter fraud. 

However, state officials failed to present any evidence that such fraud existed to the extent that the new measure was needed. They also could not explain to the court how adding the birthdate requirement would help crack down on voter fraud. 

“The State tacitly acknowledged the lack of evidence of election fraud when it argued ‘[t]he limited number of successful prosecutions does not diminish the legitimacy of the preventive interest,” the court’s ruling reads. “Against this lack of evidence…is the undisputed fact HB 719 has resulted in thousands of ballots being rejected due to a missing or incorrect birth year.”

The plaintiffs in the case, Disability Rights Montana* and Big Sky 55+, argued that the birthdate requirement would increase the risk that voters’ mail ballots would be rejected. Under the new law, election officials could also discard ballots if the signatures on the envelopes didn’t precisely match those in the voter’s registration record and absentee ballot application.

In a state like Montana, which is mostly hilly, “frontier” terrain, it is difficult for many voters to manually attend their polling places, particularly for disabled voters, which is why the majority votes absentee by mail. 

Disabled voters are often one of the more politically engaged electorate blocs, but are encumbered by a “failure of will, by non-disabled people to adjust our processes to ensure we hear from every single disabled Montanan with something to say,” an April 2025 report from Disability Rights Montana. 

While Montana Republicans pushed for the bill, the new birthdate requirements would have hurt both parties, Disability Rights Montana attorney Tal Goldin told Democracy Docket earlier this year.

“It’s not like everyone with a disability is a Democrat,” Goldin said. “If you’re the Republican majority, you’re probably disenfranchising your voters, and I care that you can vote.”

*Disability Rights Montana is represented by the Elias Law Group (ELG). Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias is ELG chairman.