Voters Struggle With Law Requiring Birth Year

Even as election o_cials throughout the state reminded residents last month of changes to Montana’s election laws and how ballots should be marked, Montana’s largest county, Yellowstone, said that it is working with nearly 1,000 residents to fix rejected ballots before the school board elections on May 5.

On Monday afternoon, Yellowstone County elections administrator Dayna Causby said that 960 ballots had been rejected largely because most failed to include the elector’s birth year, which is now required by state law.

That new requirement caused a higher percentage of Montana ballots to be rejected in 2025, but election o_cials are worried because there are several dierent elections in 2026, including primaries in June as well as the general election in November.

House Bill 719 was introduced by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, as a way to add security measures to the ballots.

The law now requires Montana voters to add their birth year. The law went into eect for the 2025 elections, which in Montana, usually are municipal elections.

During those elections, thousands of ballots statewide were rejected due to voters failing to write in their birth year on envelopes who did not respond to calls, mailed or emailed notices about the errors from their local election departments.

Reporter Micah Drew contributed to this report.