Upon request, the Secretary of State shall furnish to any individual, for noncommercial use, available extracts and reports from the statewide voter registration system, 13-2-122, MCA. If you need legal advice on the definition of non-commercial use, please consult with an attorney.
The statewide voter registration system is an active system, and data changes constantly as county election officials update it. Each extract is static information that is current as of the time the extract is pulled. Additionally, counties perform routine list maintenance at various times. A requester of data extracts is responsible for their own analysis of the information provided and is responsible for choosing the time period of purchase.
General Questions about the Statewide Voter File.
Q. Who are the contacts for questions about the Statewide Voter File?
A. Secretary of State Elections Division, soselections@mt.gov, (406) 444-9608.
Q. What is the fee structure for the statewide voter file or available extracts?
A. The fee for a single copy of the complete statewide voter file or for an extract of the voter file, such as the Absentee Ballot Report, is $1000.00. The fee for a one-year (365-day) subscription to the voter file service is $5000.00. Visa and MasterCard are accepted for online payment. A full list of fees is available as part of the Administrative Rule 44.3.1101.
Q. What is included in the purchase of the Statewide Voter File?
A. The Statewide Voter File (and customized county and legislative district files) includes two spreadsheets – one spreadsheet includes a list of currently registered voters, and the other includes the voting history of currently registered voters.
Q. What are the fields in the statewide voter file and voter history report?
A. A list of the fields in the reports is available as part of the Administrative Rule 44.3.1101.
Q. If a person purchases a subscription, does that entitle the person to all extracts and reports, including the Absentee Ballot Report and the Petition Signers Report?
A. Yes – an annual subscription entitles the customer to unlimited downloads of any available extracts of the voter file, the absentee ballot report, and the petition signers report. To purchase a subscription, customers must sign up for an Okta account after clicking the “Purchase the Voter File” button above.
Q. How far back do the records go?
A. Records go back to at least 2006 for all counties. Some voting history may exist for elections prior to 2006, depending on the information provided by the counties when the records were converted to the statewide voter registration system in 2006.
Q. Which report(s) include voter history?
A. The statewide voter file and the county and legislative extracts of the statewide voter file may include voter history. The Absentee Ballot Report and the Petition Signers Report do not include voter history.
Q. Does the voter file include information about whether or not a voter is on the absentee list?
A. Yes. The voter file has a “True/False” field titled “Absentee indicator” to show if a voter is an absentee voter.
Q. Is municipal, school, and/or special election information included in the Voter History file?
A. Although most municipal, school, and special district elections’ histories are included in the voter history file, in certain cases, the history will not be included. The user should check with the county or the Secretary of State’s office to see if a specific election is included in the history file. School districts have the option to manage their own elections, and information for those elections may not be included.
Q. Why do some residential addresses just contain what appears to be township, range, and section information rather than street addresses?
A. Some counties use legal descriptions for residential addresses in certain instances. These descriptions may appear in a format such as the following: 1 S 2 E 3. The descriptions are especially common in areas where many voters reside in areas that do not have street addresses.
Since voters in the file also have a mailing address, the mailing address may be the most useful address in cases in which the township, section, and range are listed for the voter’s residence address.
Absentee Ballot Report
Q. What is the Absentee Ballot Report, and what is included in that file? Is voter history contained in the Absentee Ballot Report? Does the Absentee Ballot Report contain information on individuals who are on the Absentee List?
A. The Absentee Ballot Report is a statewide report that includes information on voters who have been sent an absentee ballot for an upcoming election and includes the status of the absentee ballot. A list of the fields in the report is available as part of the Administrative Rule 44.3.1101.
Q. Is the Absentee Ballot Report cumulative? Will it show everyone who has been sent a ballot and the ballot status for the election, or does each subsequent report only include voters since the last report?
A. The absentee ballot report is a list of voters who have a ballot in progress for an election managed in the statewide voter registration and election management system. The report is a query for all absentee ballots in all elections where the election date occurs 45 days before or after the day of the report purchase. The report will show local and special district elections. However, some school districts manage their own elections, and absentee ballots for these elections will not be included in the report. Records for ballots will drop off the report as time passes and the election date moves outside of the 45-day query window.
Petition Signers Report
Q. What is the Petition Signers Report, and what is included in that file?
A. The Petition Signers Report is unofficial and represents totals for petitions that county election officials have processed and entered into the system. It does not represent what the Office of the Secretary of State has received, reviewed, tabulated, and certified. The certified totals may differ from those shown in the report.
The Petition Signers Report is a county-by-county record of the signers of a specific petition. By default, it is organized by county and in the order in which the signatures were processed by county election officials. A list of the fields in the report is available as part of the Administrative Rule 44.3.1101.