Legislative gridlock.
Party loyalty over practical solutions.
Demonizing the opposition.
We have witnessed many discouraging consequences of the hyper-partisanship that infects our political system today. Congress can’t pass a budget. Misinformation about disaster relief tied to political affiliation. Compromise considered a weakness.
And the Montanan Senate has two bills before it that would inject more partisan politics into aspects of our governing structure that are currently non-partisan: SB 42 and SB 129. SB 42 injects partisanship into the impartial Judicial branch of government and SB 129 includes party affiliation in voter registration.
SB 42
Montana’s judiciary is untainted by pollical wrangling. Supreme Court Justices, District Judges, Justices of the Peace, and Municipal Court judges are elected and run as “non-partisan” candidates. SB 42 would revise judicial election laws. It would create partisan nomination and election of judges, allow political parties to endorse judicial candidates, and allow political parties to contribute to judicial campaigns.
The judiciary is a co-equal branch of government with the legislative branch (which makes the law) and the executive (which enforces the law). The judiciary interprets the law and the Constitution. An independent judiciary is envisioned and enshrined in the US Constitution and in the Montana Constitution to protect individual rights, as well as the rights of the minority over majority rule.
An independent judiciary is essential. To be an independent judiciary, it is essential that it be non-partisan, free from outside political influences or private interests. An independent judiciary preserves public trust in judicial decisions and in the rule of law. Partisan elections bring politics into the election process and undermine the non-partisan fairness of the judiciary.
The League of Women Voters of Montana did a public opinion poll of Montana voters in 2023, in collaboration with Montana Public Interest Research Group (MontPIRG) and administered by the HELPS Lab at Montana State University-Bozeman. The poll showed that injecting partisan politics into Montana’s court system is extremely unpopular.
SB 129
SB 129 would revise voter registration laws to include party preference. About one-third of American voters consider themselves “Independent”, neither Republican nor Democrat. We don’t like being labeled or pigeon-holed into one category or another. This bill allows people to check a box from a list of political parties to record their party preference when they fill out their voter registration form.
More importantly (and perhaps more frighteningly), it publishes a voter’s party affiliation at the polling place, an invasion of the right to privacy about how we vote. This opens voters up to harassment by partisans at the polls and will discourage people from voting.
This bill would also politicize voter registration, potentially discouraging people from registering to vote with groups associated with tribes or non-partisan groups such as the League because it would reveal their party preference.
Do we need more partisan politics? The League has always been non-partisan and we are opposed to these two Senate bills.
The League of Women Voters has been registering voters and providing non-partisan voting information for over 100 years. Membership is open to men and women, citizens and non-citizens over the age of 16. For more information about the Missoula League, go to our website: https://my.lwv.org/montana/local-leagues/league-women-voters-missoula