In the lead-up to the November election, campaign workers are spreading out around the state to collect signatures from Montana voters — endorsements that are required for a handful of ballot initiatives to appear on voters’ ballots. As many seasoned political organizers will tell you, the p rocess of gathering signatures in support of ballot issues is no easy task. With rules and mathematical formulas for tallying signatures varying from state to state, the work of gathering voter support is niche enough that some campaign firms actually specialize in it.  And, in Montana, the requirements around signature gathering have recently changed.  In 2025, Republican lawmakers passed several alterations that regulate how signatures can be collected, particularly by canvassers hired and paid by political campaigns. The overhaul came after constitutional initiatives to change the state’s primary election system and cement a constitutional right to abortion successfully made it to the November 2024 ballot. The election initiatives failed, while the abortion rights proposal passed by a wide margin. So as clipboard-wielding signature gatherers begin cropping up outside of grocery stores, churches and farmers markets around Montana, what are the new rules of engagement? HI, MY NAME IS ____ One of the major changes passed by the 2025 Legislature sets new rules for how paid signature gatherers — as opposed to volunteers — introduce themselves to potential signers. The bill that eventually became law, House Bill 201, requires that anyone who’s being paid to collect signatures verbally identify themselves by their “first name, the state in which they legally reside, and their status as a paid signature gatherer.”  The canvassers also have to wear a name tag or badge with the same information in writing, including their first name and last initial. Prior to that bill being signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte, signature gatherers only had to report to the Montana secretary of state’s office if the signatures they turned in were collected by a paid canvasser.  The sponsor of the new law requiring verbal and nametag disclosures, Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, said he was motivated by an interaction he had with a signature gatherer in 2024 who asked Mitchell to sign in support of a ballot initiative to change the state’s primary elections format. As the two talked, the lawmaker recalled, the canvasser eventually said he was from Alaska.  “This really came out of my experience of running into a person who wasn’t even from here, wasn’t even a registered voter in the state, and was trying to change our state Constitution,” Mitchell said in a recent interview with Montana Free Press. Mitchell said the changes in HB 201 are designed to make that disclosure standard practice.  “I just want transparency,” Mitchell said. “And this goes both ways. Conservative ballot initiatives, liberal ones. Just let the voters know.” The stakes can be high if signature gatherers get the script wrong. If a canvasser is reported for not properly disclosing their name, paid status and state of residence, the signatures they collect can be thrown out and not counted toward the threshold for their initiative. Caitie Butler is a spokesperson for Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts, a group backing CI-132 this year. If successful, the initiative would revise the Montana Constitution to explicitly require that judicial elections remain nonpartisan. Butler said that while the new requirements laid out in HB 201 aren’t overly burdensome, they do present potential pitfalls for canvassers. “It’s another hoop to jump through and a potential area for signatures to get disqualified,” Butler said. “If you have another way that signatures could get tossed out, that just raises the total number you have to gather in the first place.” Gwendolyn Chilcote, right, collects signatures at a pub in Butte in late May 2024 for the CI-128 abortion rights petition. Credit: Mara Silvers / MTFP HOW DO CANVASSERS FEEL ABOUT THE CHANGES? Finding signature gatherers who worked on campaigns in 2024 and 2026 — and could speak about the differences between each election cycle — would be like looking for needles in a state-sized haystack. (Of course, if any canvasser wants to talk to a reporter about their experience collecting signatures in Montana, don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected]).  But some campaign firms that work on canvassing efforts say the new changes put paid signature gatherers at a disadvantage. Tim Harris, the field director for Landslide Political, which helped run signature gathering efforts in 2024, said the requirement to identify oneself as “paid” could create immediate distrust with voters. “Collecting signatures is already tough work, because you usually only have about 60 seconds to persuade someone to sign once you’ve caught their attention,” Harris said in a recent email to MTFP. “You really want the voter’s focus to be on the meaning of the initiative and the changes it’s seeking to make. Having to inform a voter during your opening pitch that you’re being paid for your efforts distracts from that.” Harris also said the requirement for a canvasser to identify their home state of residence could be particularly tricky for Montana college students signing up to collect signatures for a given cause. “Voters can become unnecessarily distrustful once they hear that a circulator resides out of state,” Harris said. “Honestly, it feels like these new changes are really aimed at chipping away at the trust the public has in petition circulators, seeking to give voters a reason not to trust a circulator before they’ve even heard the opening pitch.” Given that the 2025 changes to the signature-gathering process largely impact paid canvassers, campaigns might opt to put more effort into recruiting volunteers to gather signatures for free. Butler, with the Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts initiative, said her campaign has trained about 200 volunteers to collect signatures in addition to paid signature gatherers.  Harris said many of the canvassers hired by Landslide are Montana residents who care about the democratic process, but might be too busy or cash-strapped to volunteer their time without pay. Harris said his company pays canvassers an average of $25 per hour. “This gives people — especially young people — who are interested in creating positive change for their community a chance to make a living wage … while contributing to a cause or candidate they believe in,” Harris said. “Many of the people who work for us are working multiple jobs and wouldn’t have the opportunity to be politically active just through volunteering due to time and financial constraints.” HOW MANY SIGNATURES DOES IT TAKE TO GET A MEASURE ON THE BALLOT? Here’s the math that volunteer and paid signature gatherers, and the campaigns they work for, are keeping close tabs on.  According to the Montana secretary of state’s office, the number of required signatures varies depending on the type of ballot issue a campaign is trying to advance. All the percentages, however, are based on the total number of votes cast in Montana’s most recent gubernatorial election. The latest iteration of that number, from the 2024 governor’s race, is 602,404.  For citizen initiatives, proposals to enact or revise a law, a successful petition requires at least 5% of registered voters in the state at large — or 30,121 signatures. That number must include signatures from at least 5% of the electorate in 34 different legislative House districts.  Constitutional initiatives, which seek to amend the state Constitution, require signatures from 10% of the statewide qualified electorate — or 60,241. That number must include signatures from at least 10% of voters in at least 40 legislative House districts.  A referendum, a type of ballot issue that suspends an act passed by the Legislature, requires an even higher threshold. In order to be placed on the ballot, a referendum requires 15% of the state’s qualified electors — or 90,361 voters — in at least 51 legislative House districts to sign on.  The campaigns behind ballot issues are typically leery of cutting it close when it comes to the total number of signatures they turn in to election officials for verification. Signatures can be rejected if they don’t match the signature from the state’s voter file, or if a signer lists an address that differs from the address in their voter file. Each disqualified signature chips away at the threshold that a ballot issue needs to clear in order to appear before voters.The deadlines for submitting signatures for ballot issues — and clearing all sorts of other administrative hurdles — are complex. That calendar can be viewed here.  WHAT ABOUT INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES? Independent candidates — those not running under the umbrella of the Republican, Democratic or Libertarian parties — have to collect signatures to appear on the ballot, too. Compared to the process for referendums or initiatives, the requirements for independent candidates are slightly more lenient.Independent candidates for statewide or federal office have to gather a number of signatures that is at least 4% “of the total vote cast for the successful candidate for the same office at the last general election,” per Montana state law. The same holds true for independent state legislative candidates and those running for any other office.  A handful of legislative and federal candidates have filed to run as independents in 2025. In the federal races, Kimberly Persico has announced her candidacy for Montana’s Western District seat in the U.S. House. To appear on the ballot, she’ll have to gather 6,742 signatures from residents of the district. Michael Eisenhauer, another independent candidate who is running for the Eastern House seat, will have to collect at least 7,274 signatures. One of the most prominent independent candidates aiming for the 2026 ballot is Seth Bodnar, the former University of Montana president who recently announced his bid for the U.S. Senate seat that incumbent Steve Daines has announced he won’t seek reelection to. Bodner will have to collect 13,327 signatures statewide to appear on the ballot. For more information about each of the ballot issues that have been authorized to begin collecting signatures, check out the running list posted by the Montana Secretary of State.  The post It’s signature-gathering season. How does the process work? appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less