13-19-106. General requirements for mail ballot election. - Montana Statutes

     13-19-106. General requirements for mail ballot election. A mail ballot election must be conducted substantially as follows:
     (1) Subject to 13-12-202, official mail ballots must be prepared and all other initial procedures followed as provided by law, except that mail ballots must be paper ballots and are not required to have stubs.
     (2) An official ballot must be mailed to every qualified elector of the political subdivision conducting the election.
     (3) Each return/verification envelope must contain a form prescribed by the secretary of state for the elector to verify the accuracy of the elector's address or notify the election administrator of the elector's correct mailing address and to return the corrected address with the voted ballot in the manner provided by 13-19-306.
     (4) The elector shall mark the ballot and place it in a secrecy envelope.
     (5) (a) The elector shall then place the secrecy envelope containing the elector's ballot in a return/verification envelope and mail it or deliver it in person to a place of deposit designated by the election administrator.
     (b) Except as provided in 13-21-206, the voted ballot must be received before 8 p.m. on election day.
     (6) Election officials shall first qualify the voted ballot by examining the return/verification envelope to determine whether it is submitted by a qualified elector who has not previously voted in the election.
     (7) If the voted ballot qualifies and is otherwise valid, officials shall then open the return/verification envelope and remove the secrecy envelope, which must be deposited unopened in an official ballot box.
     (8) Except as provided in 13-19-312, after the close of voting on election day, voted ballots must be counted and canvassed as provided in Title 13, chapter 15.

     History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 196, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 17, Ch. 591, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 338, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 546, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 76, Ch. 414, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 443, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 33, Ch. 297, L. 2009.