Authorities in Cascade County have issued a warrant for Nathan Ross Harlan for allegedly forging signatures on petitions to get two independent candidates on the fall ballot.
Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki said in a press release Tuesday that investigators found voters who had signatures on the petitions but said they hadn’t signed them.
The petitions relate to the campaigns of Michael Eisenhauer, the independent candidate running for U.S. House in the Eastern Congressional District, and Seth Bodnar, the independent candidate running for Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat. Authorities have said that neither campaign is accused of any wrongdoing.
“I’m grateful to Cascade County’s election officials, sheriff and county attorney for their diligence,” Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen said as part of Racki’s press release Tuesday.
Around 800 signatures were called into question during the investigation, and none of them were counted toward the qualification totals for either candidate. Racki didn’t say Tuesday how many signatures were allegedly found to be fraudulent.
Racki said in his press release that Eisenhauer’s and Bodnar’s campaigns hired Ballot Access Marketing, which in turn subcontracted signature gathering to Sun Belt Strategies, a firm run by Harlan. In May, Cascade County election officials noticed similar handwriting on multiple petition entries and signatures that didn’t match voter records.
While the investigation was ongoing, Democratic congressional candidate Brian Miller filed a lawsuit, arguing that potentially fraudulent signatures should invalidate other petitions filed in the same batch — potentially thousands of signatures in total.
RELATED
Cascade Co. investigating independent signature gathering. House candidate Miller files lawsuit.
Cascade County law enforcement agencies are investigating about 800 potentially bogus signatures gathered by at least one petitioner working to qualify Michael Eisenhauer, the independent candidate running for U.S. House in the Eastern Congressional District, and Seth Bodnar, the independent candidate running for Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat. None of the signatures under investigation were counted toward either candidate’s ballot-qualification total, and Cascade County law enforcement suspects neither campaign of wrongdoing. Eastern District candidate Brian Miller has filed a lawsuit to disqualify some of the signatures.
In September, Miller dropped his lawsuit, saying he had too much on his plate to pursue it. He is running against Eisenhauer and incumbent Republican Congressman Troy Downing.
Harlan faces four misdemeanor charges. Racki described the charges as “accountability for deceptive election practices.” They are filed in the Cascade County Justice Court as “unsworn falsification to authorities.”
Harlan remains at large, and the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office has asked the public for any information about his location. Authorities found addresses for Harlan in nine southern states, as well as multiple phone numbers.
Racki called a press conference for 8 a.m. Wednesday to discuss details of the case.
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