A challenger announces in Montana
The Great Falls Review reports Linda McCulloch, superintendent of schools in Montana, has announced a bid for Secretary of State.
Brad Johnson, the incumbent republican Secretary of State in Montana was first elected in 2004. He has been an ardent opponent of the state's Election Day Registration system. While EDR in Montana is not as liberal as we would like - you have to go to a county office to register and vote on Election Day, you can't do it at the polls like you can in Minnesota for example - it's a positive step forward.
According to the Montana blog Left in the West, here's what Secretary of State Johnson has to say about Election Day Registration:
It encourages procrastination, discourages informed voting, and creates chaos for election workers - chaos that endangers the integrity of our elections.
Not only that, but Johnson is currently serving as the state chair of Romney for President, taking a high profile partisan role in an election that he is charged with running impartially. For more about the increasing attention paid to Secretaries of State who play partisan politics see our earlier post "you can't be a player and a referee."
McCulloch has pledged to defend Election Day Registration and make youth registration a priority. The Great Falls Review article reports:
McCulloch said her priorities will be young voter participation, finding more election judges, heightening civics awareness, and forming citizen councils to "develop more effective ways to do the business of the office.''
She announced plans for a youth vote project, and pledged to request legislation in 2009 allowing state high school students to serve as election judges to combat a dearth of such officials.
"It's a win for the student, as well as for the elections process in Montana,'' McCulloch said.
It's worth noting that John Tester won his 2006 Senate race by only 3500 votes, and his winning vote count included many student ballots cast as a direct consequence of Election Day Registration rules. We'll be closely watching the Montana race as we make decisions about our 2008 targeting. If you are working on the McCulloch campaign or with any other potential democratic challengers in the Montana Secretary of State race, contact us at secstateproject-at-gmail-dot-com.
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