SB 470 Montana Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Generally revise election law

SB 470 revises Montana's election judge selection and notification procedures. It requires election administrators to notify county central committees when judges are permanently removed for violations or disruption, establishes a complaint process for committees if notifications are missed, and mandates that election boards include representatives from all political parties that submitted lists, with no single party holding a simple majority. The bill also updates training requirements, including certificate rules and requiring non-affiliated candidates to state party preference during training. This bill, which died in process in May 2025, directly affects county election administrators, central committees, and election judges.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 25, 2025 Last action May 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

LC0375.pdf SB0470_1.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill number was officially changed from LC 375 to SB 470, and the sponsor was identified as D. Zolnikov. A new requirement was added mandating that every election judge must receive a certificate of completion after training and cannot serve without this current certificate.
TECHNICAL

The bill number was updated from LC 375 to SB 470, and the sponsor's name was added.

REQUIREMENT

A new requirement was added stating that election judges must be issued a certificate of completion upon finishing training and cannot serve unless they hold a current certificate.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 6, 2025

How they voted

4010
Passed
Total votes 50
Mar 6, 2025
D Democratic18
18 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican32
22 Yea 10 Nay
68% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
23
Key actions
3
Committee
3
Mar 6, 2025
Senate · Passed
Senate Vote: pass (40-10)
senate
Mar 5, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Report - (S) State Administration
upper
Mar 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
(S) Committee Executive Action - (S) State Administration
upper
Feb 26, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) State Administration
upper
Feb 25, 2025
Introduced
(S) Introduced
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Daniel Zolnikov
Daniel Zolnikov
RRepublican
MT
22