Earlier Primary Election Challenges Schools

Efforts to move up Montana’s primary election in time for the 2028 presidential race are running into resistance from public schools.

State and local educators last week cautioned legislators against making changes to the state’s election calendar that require voters to weigh in on school budget decisions before fall enrollment figures are known.

At issue is whether to move Montana’s primary election to earlier in the year, and possibly combine it with spring school elections. The proposal originated in April 2025 as a committee resolution by the Legislature’s House State Administration and Veterans Affairs Committee. The goal, according to committee chair Rep. Julie Darling, R-Helena, was to get more press for Montana’s preferences in presidential primaries by moving the vote closer to Super Tuesday, the date in March when many states attract the attention of presidential candidates by holding primaries on the same day.

Education officials told lawmakers Jan. 12 that it might be best to leave public school elections out of any rescheduling. “If changes are to be considered, they would need to be rolled out thoughtfully and over time with clear voter communication and education and close coordination with election administrators and communities across the state,” Katie Youngblood told legislators at last week’s meeting at the Capitol. Youngblood is deputy chief of staff and policy director for state Superintendent of Public Instruction Susie Hedalen.

The change of most concern was a proposed combination of the school and primary ballots, which would put financial decisions to voters before enrollment estimates are typically finished. Montana school elections currently take place on the first Tuesday in May, with ballots mailed out to voters in mid-April. Primary election ballots are mailed to absentee voters in May, days after the school election results are counted. The primary election currently ends on the first Tuesday in June.

An earlier primary would likely take place between March and May. Lawmakers said little at their January meeting about possible dates, but in November had discussed several options, ranging from Hamilton Republican Sen. Theresa Manzella’s suggestion of May to Democratic Bozeman Rep. Kelly Kortum’s suggestion to move the date even earlier. “I would really like Super Tuesday, in the beginning of February. But I realize that that’s impossible for y’all,” Kortum told public school officials at the Nov. 17 meeting at the Capitol.

Kortum suggested putting some distance between school elections and the primary, a proposal county election officials said they preferred. The committee consists of seven Republicans and four Democrats. Legislators at the January meeting chose to delay next steps after hearing from public school and election officials. “There’s a lot here that we could digest between now and the next meeting, but I’m not feeling it,” said Manzella, the committee chair.

Legislators have been considering the challenges of an earlier primary for several months. Rep. Lukas Schubert, R-Kalispell, earlier identified difficulties ranging from the challenge of finding the campaign volunteers to knock on doors in frigid temperatures to the impossibility of pounding campaign signs into frozen Montana ground.

Potential conflicts with school elections were raised by Kortum during an April 15, 2025, meeting of the House State Administration and Veterans Affairs Committee.

By the end of last week’s discussion, some lawmakers were questioning the potential benefit of an earlier primary.

“What is the goal of this exercise? Why are we even looking at this?” said Rep. Mark Reinschmidt, R-Whitehall. “I know that one of the things is that Montana usually votes in the primary after Super Tuesday, so we really don’t have a say in that. Is there any other reason we’re looking at this besides that?”

It’s unlikely that already high Montana voter interest in primaries would improve with an earlier primary date, said Rep. Eric Tilleman, R-Cascade, who presented historical turnout statistics.

“If you look at it, in 2008 we were third” nationally, Tilleman said. “We had the third-highest amount of people for voter turnout. In ’20 we were fifth, in 2016 we were second.”

Only two states, Oregon and Washington, have consistently higher primary voter turnout than Montana, according to legislative staff. Those states hold their presidential primaries in March and May, respectively.