Revise duties of the secretary of state
SB 298 revises Montana's election administration by granting the secretary of state direct supervisory authority over county election administrators. It requires county election administrators (typically county clerks) to comply with the secretary's directions regarding voter registration, election management, and reporting. The bill clarifies that county clerks serve as default election administrators and must provide requested information on election operations. These changes, effective July 1, 2025, aim to standardize election oversight across counties.
Bill status
died
1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 11, 2025
Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
LC1965.pdf
→
SB0298_1.pdf
·
3 edits
MINOR
The bill formally changes the bill number from LC 1965 to SB 298 and adds a new section requiring the Secretary of State to supervise county election administrators, ensuring they provide requested information on voter registration and election management systems.
Scope change
The bill's scope was expanded to include explicit supervisory authority over county election administrators, whereas the previous version did not contain this specific mandate.
TECHNICAL
The bill number was updated from LC 1965 to SB 298, and the list of sponsors was added.
REQUIREMENT
New language was added to Section 2-15-401 granting the Secretary of State supervisory powers over county election administrators, including the authority to order them to provide information on voter registration and election systems.
A new Section 13-1-301 was added to define the election administrator's role and explicitly reference the Secretary of State's supervisory powers over them.
Floor votes
How they voted
No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
20
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Amendments
1
Mar 1, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) State Administration
upper
Feb 12, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) State Administration
upper
Feb 11, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Theresa Manzella
RRepublican
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