Judge voids Montana ballot envelope birth-year rule

What the judge decided

Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike Menahan struck down Montana’s requirement that absentee voters write their birth year on ballot return envelopes. His Monday ruling means envelopes without a birth year cannot be rejected in the 2026 general election.

Menahan found that the rule had prevented nearly 6,000 Montana voters from having their ballots counted since the Legislature enacted it in 2025. Legislators who supported the requirement argued that it would help prevent voter fraud, but Menahan found that the state did not demonstrate that collecting a birth year served that purpose.

Disability Rights Montana and Big Sky 55+, organizations representing people with disabilities and older Montanans, challenged the law. Secretary of State Christie Jacobsen, Montana’s top election official, defended it in court for the state.

Effect on absentee voting

The ruling came as absentee voting began for the 2026 general election. Monday was the first day voters could go to a polling place and receive an absentee ballot. Election administrators were scheduled to mail ballots Friday, Oct. 9, to voters on absentee lists.

The birth-year requirement first led to ballot disqualifications during Montana’s fall 2025 municipal elections. Missoula County Deputy Elections Administrator Sarah Bell said at the time that rejected ballots increased tenfold compared with the primary election held before the rule took effect. Some county offices contacted voters by phone, email or mail to help them correct missing birth years.

The figures show the rule excluded more ballots than the size of that race’s final margin, without establishing how those ballots would have affected the result.