Issue Position: Preserve and Enhance Election Integrity

Issue Position

There is no single element more important to the future of good government in Montana than the preservation of fair and open elections. As Secretary of State, Brad will fight to:

*Require voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls when they vote
*Eliminate same-day voter registration
*Modernize and expedite the signature verification process used for mail-in ballots and initiatives
*Create authority for the Secretary of State, in concert with the Attorney General, to investigate and prosecute election law violations

During his first term, Brad was successful in securing passage of legislation that prohibits electronic voting machines and requires a paper ballot system to increase the security of our elections. Under his leadership, Montana also became one of the first states in the country to fully comply with the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which required states to modernize their election systems. Brad also introduced a bill to make willful election fraud a felony in Montana. So long as Montana's election laws fail to provide any meaningful deterrent, we are leaving the door wide open for willful abuse of the system.

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