More than 700 Votes Rejected in Yellowstone County Due to a Lack of Birth Year

More than 700 votes rejected in Yellowstone County due to a lack of birth year

BILLINGS More than 700 of the 17,743 early votes cast in Yellowstone County have been rejected due to voters not listing their birth year next to their signature on the envelope.The requirement to list the birth year is new, after the 2025 Montana Legislature passed a bill sponsored by state by Rep. Braxton Mitchell of Columbia Falls.Watch this video to hear how voters can get their vote to count: More than 700 votes rejected in Yellowstone Coun…

New law requires election officials to reject mail ballots that aren’t signed with voters’ birth years

This fall’s municipal elections will give Montana voters their first encounter with a new requirement to provide their birth year on the back of mail-in ballot envelopes alongside the previously required signature line. The change is a result of a legislative mandate aimed at enhancing mail election security that took effect Oct. 1. Election officials in Montana’s two largest counties, Yellowstone and Missoula, said this week that the change had…

Hundreds of ballots rejected by Montana voters

The law, which has been challenged in court, has resulted in some election departments seeing rejection rates 10 times higher than normal.

New Birth Year Affirmation Requirement on Ballots

In the 2025 Montana Legislative session, House Bill 719 was passed, requiring voters to provide their year of birth on the affirmation envelope. Please be sure that before submitting your voted ballot to the Election Office, the affirmation envelope includes your signature along with your year of birth. A ballot will be rejected if it does not include these two required items. MCA 13-13-201(e)....