Judge Gives Dem Candidate Huge Boost, Removes Green Party Entirely from Ballot
A Montana judge has ordered election officials to remove the Green Party from the ballot, giving the Democratic candidate a boost in the 2018 midterm elections.
Helena District Court Judge James Reynolds’ decision to remove the party’s Senate candidate, Steve Kelly, as well as other candidates comes after Montana Democrats accused the party of not obtaining signatures properly, according to a Monday report by The Associated Press.
Alleged irregularities included signatures not matching the registered voters, incomplete entries, and the party not disclosing all of its financial activities.
The Montana Democrats argued that the Green Party failed to submit 5,000 signatures from at least 34 state House districts in order to qualify for the midterms.
The Green Party received enough signatures, but only from 30 state House districts.
The Montana Democrats also claimed that Republicans helped the Green Party gather signatures to take votes away from the Democratic Party.
Montana’s Sen. Jon Tester is one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats. He’s seeking re-election against Republican candidate Matt Rosendale.
The Green Party turned in over 7,000 signatures to qualify for the midterms early in the year, but two of the signature gatherers were associated with the Republican political consulting firm Advanced Micro Targeting, according to a report by The Hill.
State campaign laws require all financial activities to be reported, but the Democrats argued that the Green Party did not report its alleged affiliation with the Republican Party.
The state Commissioner of Political Practices office is currently looking into the matter.
After reviewing the claims, Reynolds turned down 80 signatures gathered through petitioning, which left the Green Party to fall short of remaining on the ballot.
Besides the Senate race, the Green Party had candidates in the state’s one House race as well as several state legislative races, according to KTVH.
Montana Democrats Executive Director Nancy Keenan blamed the Republicans for using “dark money groups that are blatantly trying to interfere in Montana’s democracy.”
However, Green Party Director Danielle Breck claimed the Democrats were interfering with the election.
“The voter suppression by the Democrats is quite blatant,” Breck told the Independent Record. “There were plenty of signatures on our petition.”
A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
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