2021 Montana Legislature
By Request of the Secretary of State
A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT requiring annual voter registration list maintenance; and AMENDING SECTION 13-2-220, MCA."
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
Section 1. Section 13-2-220, MCA, is amended to read:
"13-2-220. Maintenance of active and inactive voter registration lists for elections -- rules by secretary of state. (1) The rules adopted by the secretary of state under 13-2-108 must include the following procedures, at least one of which an election administrator shall follow in every odd-numbered year annually:
(a) compare the entire list of registered electors against the national change of address files and provide appropriate confirmation notice to those individuals whose addresses have apparently changed;
(b) mail a nonforwardable, first-class, "return if undeliverable--address correction requested" notice to all registered electors of each jurisdiction to confirm their addresses and provide the appropriate confirmation notice to those individuals who return the notices;
(c) mail a targeted mailing to electors who failed to vote in the preceding federal general election, applicants who failed to provide required information on registration forms, and provisionally registered electors by:
(i) sending the list of nonvoters a nonforwardable notice, followed by the appropriate forwardable confirmation notice to those electors who appear to have moved from their addresses of record;
(ii) comparing the list of nonvoters against the national change of address files, followed by the appropriate confirmation notices to those electors who appear to have moved from their addresses of record;
(iii) sending forwardable confirmation notices; or
(iv) making a door-to-door canvass.
(2) An individual who submits an application for an absentee ballot for a federal general election or who completes and returns the address confirmation notice specified in 13-13-212(4) during the calendar year in which a federal general election is held is not subject to the procedure in subsection (1)(c) unless the individual's ballot for a federal general election is returned as undeliverable and the election administrator is not able to contact the elector through the most expedient means available to resolve the issue.
(3) Any notices returned as undeliverable to the election administrator or any notices to which the elector fails to respond after the election administrator uses the procedures provided in subsection (1) must be followed within 30 days by an appropriate confirmation notice that is a forwardable, first-class, postage-paid, self-addressed, return notice. If the elector fails to respond within 30 days of the final confirmation notice, after the 30th day, the election administrator shall move the elector to the inactive list.
(4) A procedure used by an election administrator pursuant to this section must be completed at least 90 days before a primary or general election for federal office.
(5) An elector's registration may be reactivated pursuant to 13-2-222 or may be canceled pursuant to 13-2-402."