Dear Editor:

I read with some horror the article in the Federalist (April 22, 2022) by John Lott, Jr. detailing remaining issues from 2020 with Montana election integrity. I messaged the Secretary of State with my concerns. I received the excellent and detailed response from the SOS office below. For anyone who has remaining questions about Montana's election integrity, I have altered the response from Ritchie Melby, Communications Director of the Secretary of State's Office for length and post the content below.

During the 67th Legislative Session, Secretary Jacobsen requested a handful of election-related bills that were supported by voters during her time on the campaign trail. These include:

• Photo ID: Senate Bill 169 outlines the required identification for voter registration, voting and provisional voting.

• Voter maintenance: Senate Bill 170 requires county election administrators to annually review and maintain their voter registration list. More than 30,000 ballots were undeliverable during the 2020 election, and this bill will clean up the voter roll.

• Late registration: House Bill 176 revises late voter registration to noon the day before an election, providing election administrators with ample time to focus on voting during Election Day.

• Minor party qualifications: Senate Bill 350 adjusts minor party qualifications and provides deadlines for removing names from a petition.

• Election security: House Bill 530 requires county election administrators to annually assess their compliance with election security rules.

• Eliminate experimental use of vote systems: House Bill 506 revised election laws, including previous authorization for the use of experimental vote systems in Montana.

Each of the above passed the legislature and was signed to law by the governor. While our office was working on the rules surrounding them, a string of lawsuits were filed against our office regarding the new laws. Our office is working diligently to defend them and Secretary Jacobsen has appealed one particular case to the Montana Supreme Court.

The article in question mentions the Secretary in relation to video requirements and retention. The office was drafting rules surrounding HB 530, which, as mentioned above, came under litigation. I encourage you to read those original proposed rules by following https://rules.mt.gov/gateway/ShowNoticeFile.asp?TID=10939. You'll notice they address your inquiry.

Please note, our rule-making activity was halted because of a court order, which included the rule hearing that was scheduled for May 6. There has since been an amended court order allowing us to continue with the rule-making process.

Lynne Vongries