HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Secretary of State’s office is responding to news reports about inaccurate absentee ballots being provided to overseas voters and veterans serving abroad.
The Daily Inter Lake was first to report the problem on Friday, stating that when Max Himsl, a voter living abroad in the United Kingdom, opened their electronic ballot shortly after the system went live, Democrat Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz were not listed as an option for president and vice president of the United States.
We reached out to the Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office. They put out a press release on Monday morning and offered additional information via email to NBC Montana.
Officials with the Montana Secretary of State’s Office state incorrect absentee ballots were not sent out. They say that their office received one report, as referenced by the Daily Inter Lake, of a ballot not displaying properly through the electronic absentee system. They say the system was taken offline on Friday morning to correct the issue and was back up in the afternoon.
They say the potentially impacted voter has been contracted and no further action is required.
The Secretary of State’s Office did not state how the issue happened.
NBC Montana also reached out to Jesse James Mullen, the Democrat running for Secretary of State. He believes the explanation from the state government is insufficient, and that more details must be made available to the public.
“A question that anyone with any kind of business experience or any kind of management or leadership experience asks is how did this happen and how do you make sure this won’t happen again? We have not seen an explanation for that from the secretary of state. That’s very basic information,” said Mullen, who is calling for a thorough investigation.
“We have great election laws in Montana, and the legislature has gone out of it’s way to make sure we have good laws in place,” added Mullen. “It’s just a disappointing lack of responsibility and care and detail on the part of one of our state executives.”
We also reached out to state legislative leadership for Democrats and Republicans, as well as Libertarian secretary of state candidate John Lamb, but have yet to receive responses back.
NBC Montana will continue to follow this story, so stay tuned for updates.
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Publish date : 2024-09-23 04:29:00
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