A second attempt to keep Montana judicial races nonpartisan has been launched.
The group Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts filed two initiative language proposals with the Montana Secretary of State’s office Friday.
The first proposal would amend the state Constitution to require that judicial elections remain nonpartisan. The second proposal goes a step further by requiring any new court created by the Legislature to also be nonpartisan.
The initiatives proposed come after failed attempts by Republicans in the Montana Legislature to either require judges to declare party affiliation or give them the option to declare. The bills failed, but lawmakers did make it legal for political parties to donate directly to judicial candidates.
The initiative, if successful at gathering the required signatures to make the ballot, would reach Montanans voting in the 2026 general election, when one of expected high-profile races on the ballot is a seat as justice on the state Supreme Court.
“More and more, people in the Legislature have been trying to pass, in statute, partisan judicial elections. So, if we can codify in the Constitution that Montanans want their elections to remain nonpartisan, we want to do it now before we have to unwind something else,” said Caitie Butler, of Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts.
Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts includes several organizations, including Montana Federation of Public Employees, Big Sky 55+, ACLU of Montana, Forward Montana, and Catalyst Montana, all of which have been vocal about issues related to elections and voting in the last several election cycles.
In June, a second group, Montanans for Fair and Impartial Judges, launched an initiative drive specific to keeping state Supreme Court races nonpartisan. Montanans for Fair and Impartial Judges is backed by several former Montana elected officials, including former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot and Republican Secretary of State Bob Brown, as well as former Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan, who at one point was a Democratic state legislator.
To qualify for the ballot, initiatives to amend the state Constitution must obtain 10% of the total number of qualified voters in Montana who voted in the 2024 general election race for governor, including 10% of the voters in each of 40 legislative House districts.
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