Bank and Browning) and Pondera ….
Bank and Browning) and Pondera County (Conrad) have been moved into the underpopulated District 1.
State attorneys had submitted a proposal that produced districts satisfying the 10% deviation criteria by moving only three counties: Deer Lodge, Glacier and Musselshell. The newly ordered map is similar, except the judges chose to also shift Pondera County in order to bring the deviation to 6.7 percent and avoid splitting the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Since PSC seats representing District 1 and 5 are up for election this year, the court notes, the new map’s reassignments mean every voter who was slated to vote for a commission candidate this year will still get that opportunity.
In a statement, Speaker of the House Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, reiterated the Legislature’s position that the court should have given lawmakers a chance to redraw the districts when it meets for its regularly scheduled 2023 session.
“I appreciate the court ordering a map that makes very few changes to prior legislative action and also for recognizing the Legislature’s ultimate authority to adjust Montana’s PSC districts,” Galt said.
A spokesperson for Jacobsen, who was named as the instigating lawsuit’s defendant, said she was reviewing the ruling in order to provide guidance to election officials.
The lawsuit was brought by a trio of Montana voters represented by attorneys Constance Van Kley and Rylee Sommers-Flanagan of Helena-based Upper Seven Law and Joel Krautter of Sidney- based Netzer Law Office. Van Kley applauded the ruling in a statement Tuesday.
“The court has affirmed that all Montanans have an equal right to vote,” she said. “This ruling is a victory for Montana voters and for democratic principles.”
