tried to give voters more ….
tried to give voters more options, while Democrats called the effort misleading and asked people who signed the petition to withdraw their signatures. The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices ruled Republican efforts broke campaign finance law, which the party disputes. The state supreme court followed suit, finding unauthorized groups cannot put a party on the ballot.
The back and forth this year has left the Greens trying to catch up with their own ballot status. Adrien Wagner, acting state coordinator for the Montana Green Party, said he first heard a couple reports of signature gatherers in early February.
Wagner said the party was not involved in signature gathering and had no contact with candidates except two, for state senate and attorney general, who it had planned to endorse. He said the Democrats’ lawyers “chose to willfully misinterpret how it was stated on our Facebook page,” to argue against the whole slate.
Wagner officially stepped in as the Green Party’s acting coordinator last May and has had to balance the party’s desire for ballot access and independence.
“This one caught us off guard, it’s not the way that we want to get [ballot] access,” Wagner said, though the party still wanted at least its presidential candidate on the ballot. “Yes, it was a Republican- led effort. That doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve a voice.”
Michael O’Neil, communications manager for the national Green Party, echoed Wagner’s frustration, saying ballot access has turned into a partisan game at a time when voters crave more choice.
The Libertarian Party is already qualified for the ballot, but it also had at least one recent challenge to ballot access. In 2016, the then Republican state chairman unsuccessfully requested to remove Roger Roots, the Libertarian for secretary of state, from the ballot over issues with campaign filings.
Roots, an attorney, has run unsuccessfully as a Libertarian for several offices in recent years and is running this year for state auditor, Montana’s watchdog for insurance and securities.
Roots served as a volunteer paralegal for Ryan Bundy, one of 26 charged in connection with the 2016 armed takeover of a wildlife refuge in Oregon, The Oregonian first reported. Roots has a criminal record, including resisting arrest, violating probation and possession of an unregistered firearm. He said he hasn’t spent a night in jail in 25 years and he would focus on investigating the government as a tireless advocate for individual liberty if elected.
The Libertarian candidate for governor and CEO of Hoplite Armor, Lyman Bishop, has argued federal ownership of land in Montana is unconstitutional and is concerned about protecting peoples’ rights, including Second Amendment rights.
Kevin Leatherbarrow, the Libertarian candidate for superintendent of public instruction, runs Go and Grow tutoring center and said he is frustrated with the education system and supports school choice and more funding for special education.
One Libertarian candidate for state house, independent Doug Campbell, previously ran for office as a Green and said both parties can offer an appealing alternative.
“The Green Party and the Libertarian Party really have a lot in common as far as non-intervention in foreign policy, providing individuals with all of the constitutional rights and not corporations, and getting corruption out of the system,” Campbell said.
Campbell said he thinks a lack of third parties leads people to not vote at all.
