Mont. Code Ann. » TITLE 13. ELECTIONS · CHAPTER 27. STATEWIDE BALLOT ISSUES · Part 3. Processing After Circulation ofPetitions for Signature
Montana Code Annotated

Mont. Code Ann. § 13-27-304 (2026)

County Official To Forward Verified Sheets

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  1. MCA Contents
  2. TITLE 13
  3. CHAPTER 27
  4. Part 3
  5. 13-27-304 County official to forward verified sheets

TITLE 13. ELECTIONS

CHAPTER 27. STATEWIDE BALLOT ISSUES

Part 3. Processing After Circulation ofPetitions for Signature

County Official To Forward Verified Sheets

13-27-304. County official to forward verified sheets. The county official verifying the number of registered electors signing the petition shall forward it to the secretary of state by certified mail with a certificate in substantially the following form attached:

To the Honorable ____________, Secretary of State of the state of Montana:

I, ____________, ___________ (title) of the County of __________, certify that I have examined the attached sheets of the petition for (statutory referendum, statutory initiative, constitutional convention initiative, or constitutional initiative) No. ____ in the manner prescribed by law; and I believe that ____ (number) signatures in (Legislative Representative District No. ____ or the County of ____) (repeat for each district or county included in sheet or section) are valid; and I further certify that the affidavit of the signature gatherer of the petition is attached.

Signed:______________ (Date)_______________ (Signature)

Seal_________________________ (Title)

History: En. 37-123 by Sec. 9, Ch. 342, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 37-123(1); amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 537, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 11, Ch. 323, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 28, Ch. 368, L. 2017; amd. Sec. 36, Ch. 647, L. 2023.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases, 1979–2019 · leading case: Larson v. State, 2019 MT 28, 434 P.3d 241.
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Larson v. State, 2019 MT 28, 434 P.3d 241. · cites it 4× “The secretary of state "may reject any petition that does not meet statutory requirements" and "shall return a[ny] rejected petition to the proper county official.”
Montana Consum. Fin. Ass'n v. State Ex Rel. Bullock, 2010 MT 185, 238 P.3d 765. · cites it 6× “Section 13-27-304, MCA. 4. Once a sufficient number of signatures have been filed with the Secretary of State, he or she must “immediately” certify to the Governor that the completed petition has been officially filed.”
Montanans for Equal Application of Initiative Laws v. State Ex Rel. Johnson, 2007 MT 75, 154 P.3d 1202. · cites it 6× “Section 13-27-304, MCA. ¶ 19 The Secretary of State tallies the number of certified signatures that are provided to him by the county election administrators, by house district.”
State Ex Rel. Miller v. Murray, 600 P.2d 1174 (Mont. 1979). · cites it 3× “Likewise, the Clerk and Recorders do not have a duty to accept and certify signatures submitted to them as a matter of course.”
Not in Montana: Citizens Against CI-97 v. State Ex Rel. McGrath, 2006 MT 278, 147 P.3d 174. · cites it 2× “The county officials forwarded the signatures to the Secretary of State pursuant to § 13-27-304, MCA. The Secretary of State then certified to the Governor that Proponents had filed a completed petition, as required by § 13-27-308, MCA, on the statutory deadline of July 21,…”
Montana Consum. Fin. v. State, No. 10-0371 (Mont. Aug. 17, 2010). · cites it 3× “Section 13-27-304, MCA. 4. Once a sufficient number of signatures have been filed with the Secretary of State, he or she must “immediately” certify to the Governor that the completed petition has been officially filed.”
Bernard Harrington v. State, 2010 MT 185. · cites it 3× “Section 13-27-304, MCA. 4. Once a sufficient number of signatures have been filed with the Secretary of State, he or she must “immediately” certify to the Governor that the completed petition has been officially filed.”
Bernard Harrington v. State, No. 10-0366 (Mont. Aug. 17, 2010). · cites it 3× “Section 13-27-304, MCA. 4. Once a sufficient number of signatures have been filed with the Secretary of State, he or she must “immediately” certify to the Governor that the completed petition has been officially filed.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.