Montana Voting System Shut Down After Kamala Harris Left Off Ballot

Montana's election season has gotten off to a rocky start after absentee voters realized Kamala Harris was not a listed candidate on their ballot.

The state of Montana was forced to shut down its electronic absentee voter system after it went live on September 20th when a voter reported that there was no option to vote for Vice President Harris.

According to the Daily Interlake, Max Himsl, a Montana voter living in the UK reported the issue when trying to fill out his ballot online. He reported it right away to the Flathead County Election Department on Friday, September 20th.

As a precaution the Secretary of State's office, run by Republican Christi Jacobson, took down the Electronic Absentee System for troubleshooting, although they insisted that very few voters had been affected by this issue.

They also reassured voters that this issue was just on electronic absentee ballots which are for members of the armed forces living abroad, spouses or dependants of members of the armed forces living abroad, U.S. citizens living abroad, and, per the Montana Secretary of State's website: "Other individuals meeting definitions of "absent uniformed services voter" and "overseas voter" in Montana law."

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's office told Newsweek: "On Friday morning, our office received a report of a ballot not displaying properly for a UOCAVA voter [meaning eligible military and overseas citizens].

"As mentioned, the system was taken offline in the morning for troubleshooting with the vendor, and it was back online in the afternoon.

"The potentially impacted UOCAVA voter who submitted a ballot has since been contacted, and no further action is required. Vice President Kamala Harris and all certified candidates appear on Montana's ballots."

The Harris campaign has also been contacted via email for comment.

Kamala Harris, who was left off of Montana online absentee ballots, speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 47th Annual Leadership Conference, DC September 18, 2024. Kamala Harris, who was left off of Montana online absentee ballots, speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 47th Annual Leadership Conference, DC September 18, 2024. Kevin Dietsch/Getty images

According to the Daily Interlake, the Secretary of State has assured voters that this ballot issue will not affect physical absentee ballots, or Election Day ballots.

Montana's 'Vote Montana' platform has a list of all of the candidates on the Montana ballot.

This list does include Kamala Harris. Their full list of candidates is: Donald Trump, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Kamala Harris, Chase Oliver, and Jill Stein. Crossed out at the top of the ballot is Joseph R Biden.

This is not the first election-related incident that Jacobson has been involved in, and Jacobson has been criticised online for this recent mishap.

Max Croes, former vice chair of the Montana Democratic Party said on X :"This is criminal...The Montana SOS is an arm of the corrupt Montana GOP."

An X user named Casey also criticised Jacobson for this ballot incident, saying: "You've previously been sued for removing names off petitions."

A polling place in Montana in 2017. A polling place in Montana in 2017. Justin Sullivan/Getty images

Casey was referring to a recent election firestorm involving Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, an abortion activism group in Montana, who threatened Jacobson with a lawsuit in July 2024 for removing names from a petition to get abortion included as a right in the Montana Constitution.

The group claimed that Jacobson removed the names of registered but "inactive" voters from their petition. However, the Secretary of State's office said that they were entitled to discount inactive voters as "qualified electors" and therefore their signature did not count on the petition.

The group took the suit to court on July 10th, and the courts ruled that Jacobson must put the removed signatures back onto the petition, at least while the case proceeds.

Jacobson also recently asked the Supreme Court of the United States to consider appealing voter laws that were found unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court. The laws that were struck down prevented 17 year olds from obtaining a ballot even if they turned 18 by election day, eliminated same-day registration, refused university ID as valid ID, and banned ballot collectors who received "pecuniary benefits."

Jacobson has claimed that the Montana court overstepped its bounds as it became a state court that was determining its own election laws.

SCOTUS is yet to weigh in on this case.

Update 9/24/24, 3:00 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include comment from the Montana Secretary of State's office.