Two new bills have been signed by Governor Greg Gianforte that address voting in Montana, particularly addressing voter ID and eliminating same-day voter registration.

Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen spoke to KGVO News on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the new legislation that she requested before the session began.

“This was my number one priority,” said Jacobsen. “The session was to get voter ID passed with the legislature and the governor. It's something that I campaigned on. It was my number one campaign promise. So I had marching orders from the voters of Montana and they voted and made it loud and clear what they would like me to accomplish, and so that's what I've been working hard last four months to do.”

Jacobsen provided a personal story about how logical a solid voter ID policy could be.

“A couple weeks ago, I took my daughter to the Lewis and Clark library to get a library card,” she said. “She's a student here in Helena, and she needed to present a photo ID, and if the photo ID did not have her address on it, she needed to have a second form of ID that included her address. Again, this is my teenage daughter who needed to get a library card. If we need that degree of integrity to check out a library book at our local library, I definitely think it's worth having the same integrity around voting.”

Jacobsen responded to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called Montana’s new Voter ID law ‘despicable’.

“I think all of that is just Democrat propaganda and brainwashing, and it's absolutely ridiculous and nonsense,” she said. “A recent poll showed that 77% of voters across the country would like to see voter identification. Again in Montana, it's also very strong that Montanans want to see voter identification.”

Responding to the recent charges of voter fraud in the last election in Missoula, Jacobsen said having video of the vote count in every precinct with a definite timeline will be state policy from now on.
“Absolutely there needs to be a timeline and we will clearly spell that out in an administrative rule,” she said. “I'm not quite certain what the exact date (the amount of time the videos will be retained) is going to be at this point in time, but we will make sure that we have input from all of the stakeholders and produce the best policy going forward.”

Jacobsen was present this week when Governor Gianforte signed both voting policy laws in Helena.

 

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