A Montana judge has ordered state elections officials to remove the Green Party from the November ballot, a boost to Sen. Jon Tester (D) in his bid for reelection.
Helena District Court Judge James Reynolds invalidated some of the signatures Green Party backers submitted to the secretary of state’s office, either because the signatures did not match those on file, because they did not match a registered voter or because of improper signature-gathering practices.
As a result, the Green Party did not meet statewide requirements that they submit a total of 5,000 valid signatures gathered across at least 34 of Montana’s 100 state House districts.
The state Democratic Party had sued to block the Green Party’s access to the ballot, claiming Republicans had improperly manipulated the signature-gathering process.
Earlier this year, state Democrats raised concerns after ostensible Green Party supporters turned in more than 7,000 signatures on the final day of qualifying. At least two of those signature-gatherers identified themselves in social media postings as employees of Advanced Micro Targeting, a Republican political consulting firm in Nevada.
The decision means artist and gallery owner Steve Kelly will not appear on November’s ballot against Tester and state Auditor Matt Rosendale (R). That could be a needed assist for Tester, one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats seeking reelection this year, who might have feared losing some liberal voters to Kelly. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]President Donald Trump Tied Democrat Sen. Jon Tester To Democrat Leaders During A Thursday Night Rally In Montana For Republican Senate Candidate Matt Rosendale.
“A vote for Jon Tester is a vote for [Sen.] Chuck Schumer and [Rep.] Nancy Pelosi,” said Trump, who then added that it is also a vote for one of the new faces of the Democratic party, Rep. Maxine Waters.
Waters spoke at one of several protests last weekend where they called for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There Waters warned that anyone threatening her “better shoot straight,” because “There’s nothing like a wounded animal.” Waters has repeatedly called for President Trump to be impeached.
He pointed to Tester’s votes against repealing Obamacare, against tax cuts, and against confirming the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States.
“Jon Tester voted no on tax cuts for Montana families,” said Trump. “He voted no on cutting the estate tax or the death tax for your farms, your farmers, or your small business. Think of that one. But you got it anyway, because we got it passed.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [contentcards url=”http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/396303-judge-boots-green-party-from-montana-ballot-in-boost-to-tester” target=”_blank”]