A nonprofit working to put local data center development decisions in the hands of Butte-Silver Bow County voters sued the county this week after its signature-gathering deadline was changed to a date in the past.
Responding to a proposal for the construction of a large data center in Butte, plaintiff Denise Kelly, the founder of 406 People First, began collecting signatures to put a local initiative that would allow voters to approve or reject data center development or expansion on the November ballot. Washington state-based Sabey Data Centers backed out of its Butte agreement in May, but the company is still exploring other sites in southwest Montana, including in Silver Bow County. To get the initiative on the November ballot, 406 People First needed to garner signatures from at least 15% of registered Butte-Silver Bow County voters, or at least 3,652 people.
Kelly’s complaint, filed Wednesday, alleges that Butte-Silver Bow’s election administrator approved the data center petition for circulation and notified organizers that the signature-gathering period would begin May 29 and end at 5 p.m. on Aug. 14. On July 31, according to court documents, the administrator emailed Kelly that the group’s signature requirement had been met. On Aug. 10, Kelly alleges, the administrator “reversed course,” saying a Montana statute “would appear” to require a July 13 signature deadline.
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“The reversal retroactively disqualified petition activity that the Administrator herself authorized,” the complaint says.
Kelly has asked a District Court judge to honor the administrator’s initial approval and certify the data center initiative for the November ballot.
“They’ve changed the rules on the fly to cater to everyone except the people of Butte,” Kelly wrote of Butte-Silver Bow County administrators in an Aug. 12 press release.
John Meyer, an attorney representing Kelly, said it’s important “to protect all Montanans’ constitutional power of ballot initiatives.”
Butte-Silver Bow County Clerk and Recorder Cynthia Sherman, a named defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, District Court Judge Frank Joseph temporarily blocked Butte-Silver Bow officials from treating the initiative as rejected while the court case proceeds. The injunction prevents county officials “from destroying, returning, segregating, or refusing to count petition sheets … or taking any action that would make certification or ballot placement impracticable.” It also requires county officials to “certify the ballot, send it to the Secretary of State and take any additional steps necessary to ensure the [initiative] is placed on the November ballot.”
A hearing is set for Aug. 19 at the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse, where a judge will hear arguments about whether the temporary injunction should remain in place.
A similar signature-gathering effort was underway in Yellowstone County when Yellowstone County’s attorney’s office released a memo saying its deadline had passed weeks earlier, citing the same statute referenced in Kelly’s lawsuit. Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito told Montana Free Press earlier this month that the deadline shift, to July 13, was prompted by data center developer Quantica Infrastructure, which made Twito aware of a relevant state statute on July 30. The incident in Yellowstone County differs slightly from the Butte-Silver Bow case in that the elections administrator in Butte acknowledged that Kelly had gathered enough signatures for the initiative to appear on the ballot before reversing course.
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