Montana election officials remind voters of birth year requirement

Ballots for Montana school and special district elections coming up on May 5 are being mailed to voters this week and election officials are reminding Montanans of the new law that requires writing a birth year and signature on a mail ballot envelope before mailing it or returning it.

The Montana Association of Clerk and Recorders and Election Administrators sent a press release on Monday ahead of the second election held following the passage of House Bill 719 during the 2025 Legislature, which took effect October of last year.

“These laws impact every voter using mail ballots, and we want to ensure that people are aware of this requirement before they send in their ballots to help set our voters up for success,” Association Communication Committee Chair Angie Paulsen said. “We understand that some voters may be hesitant to send this information through the mail. If that’s the case, we encourage them to drop off their ballot at their local election office.”

HB 719, brought by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, was intended to increase voter security by adding another layer of verification to absentee ballots — which are commonly used by Montana voters.

During November’s municipal elections, thousands of ballots statewide were rejected due to voters failing to write in their birth year on envelopes who did not respond to calls, mailed or emailed notices about the errors from their local election departments.

In Yellowstone County, election administrators told the Daily Montanan the rejection rate was nearly 4.5% initially, and after more than 800 ballots were resolved by voters it dropped to 2.03%. However, that was more than double the previous municipal election rate in 2023 of 0.78%.

But other counties saw fewer problems, including Lewis and Clark County, which conducted substantial voter outreach ahead of the election, including doing a trial run in the City of Helena primary election, which took place before the new law took effect.

Less than 1% of ballots were rejected in the county, according to the elections office.