Montana's Franchise Under Attack

By James C. Nelson, Daily Montanan

July 5, 2021

The right to vote is a fundamental right under Montana’s Constitution. Article II, Sec. 13 provides: “All elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.”

To understand how this fundamental Constitutional right is at risk, to grasp the existential danger to this most sacred right—a right indispensable to the continued existence of our democracy–we must acknowledge the threat of authoritarianism and that fact that our country, our state is teetering on that abyss.

I want to give you a quick look at the authoritarian playbook to which a stunning list of past and present players subscribe. Sure, think Hitler and Mussolini, but also think the present governments and leaders of Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, Iran, the Philippines, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Indeed, think of the more than three dozen countries that are presently ruled by authoritarian or despotic regimes.

So, here are the hallmarks of the authoritarian playbook —and I want you to check these off in your mind with the question: Is that hallmark going on in the USA or in Montana? Here is what authoritarians and despots do:

The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Law and Justice reports that between Jan. 1 and May 14 of this year, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to vote. The U.S. is on track to far exceed its most recent period of significant voter suppression in 2011. At the date of its report, at least 61 bills with restrictive provisions were moving through 18 state legislatures. Overall, legislators introduced at least 389 restrictive bills in 48 states—including Montana—in the 2021 legislative sessions. These include, among others:

While Montana did pass legislation to provide greater access to voters with disabilities, overall, the focus of this session was to make it more difficult to exercise one’s fundamental constitutional right to vote.

And here is the point to of all of this. Without a vibrant and expansive right to vote; without a meaningful franchise, there is no way to prevent our country and our state from joining the ranks of authoritarianism and despotism. Indeed, democracy cannot and will not survive if the politicians in power degrade, diminish and destroy the ability of “We the People” to vote.

Those politicians who are telling us our elections are not secure, that there is voter fraud, that our election results cannot be trusted, that elections have been rigged or stolen, are lying. There has been no evidence presented to any court that any of these are true—indeed, all evidence has been to the contrary.

Keep in mind the authoritarian playbook and keep in mind that trashing the right to vote and elections is, perhaps, the most malignant authoritarian tactic.

Marc Racicot, a respected former Montana attorney general and governor summed it up best in a recent article written by Mara Silvers and published in the Montana Free Press critical of Montana’s present Attorney General, Austin Knudsen’s attacks on Montana’s judiciary—which is, incidentally, another authoritarian tactic. Racicot, stated: “The republic is at risk of not functioning here . . . [a]nd it will continue until there are enough people who say stop.”

And there is the rub. You cannot say “Stop,” if your right to vote is impaired. Voting is the only way to say, “Stop.” The franchise is ours to exercise and it is the only way we can prevent our governments from joining the list of the world’s authoritarian and despotic regimes.

Jim Nelson is a retired justice of the Montana Supreme Court.

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