Case Summary
LWVO, the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, and Florida Decides Healthcare filed an amicus brief in the Montana Supreme Court asking the court to reject an overly restrictive reading of the state constitution’s “separate vote rule,” which requires proposed constitutional amendments to be voted on separately instead of bundled together.
Montana’s state Constitution allows voters to amend it via the ballot initiative process. Among the relevant provisions is Article 14, Section 11, known as the “separate vote rule”, which states that if more than one amendment is on the ballot in the same election, they must each be distinguished and voted upon separately.
In 2025, several Montana voters submitted a proposed constitutional amendment, Ballot Issue 8 (BI-8), to the Attorney General, seeking approval to gather signatures to add a potential amendment to the ballot. BI-8 contained several provisions aimed at protecting the ballot initiative process. Among these were
“impartial, predictable, open, and timely processes for ballot issues, including approving petitions and ballot statements, resolving legal challenges, and verifying signatures. It requires the state to allow ample time for signature gathering, prohibits disqualification of petitions because of minor or technical issues, and allows voters to withdraw their signatures if they so choose.”
On December 4, 2025, Montana’s Attorney General rejected BI-8, stating the proposal violated the state constitution’s separate vote rule for ballot initiatives, arguing it was attempting to add multiple amendments to the constitution packaged as a single amendment. As examples, the Montana Attorney General pointed out the amendment (1) changed the legislature’s power to regulate elections; (2) changed the judiciary’s power by setting deadlines to decide challenges to ballot initiatives; and (3) affected public officials’ right to free speech.
In response, on December 15, 2025, the BI-8 proponents sued in the Montana Supreme Court, stating the Attorney General’s decision was incorrect, and that the amendment was a single proposal with several parts that were designed to protect the people’s specific right to use the ballot initiative and referendum process.
On January 12, 2026, the League of Women Voters of Ohio (LWVO), Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, and Florida Decides Healthcare filed an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs. In their brief, LWVO and its co-amici detailed how their states’ elected officials restricted ballot initiatives. The amici urged the court to construe the separate vote rule as a protection against the flagrant combination of unrelated proposals, and not as a strict test that stops proposed constitutional amendments from containing subparts or addressing complex issues.
LWVO was represented in this matter by Boland Aarab PLLP.
LWV Timeline
Plaintiffs file lawsuit
Several proponents of BI-8 file a lawsuit in the Montana state supreme court, asking for reversal of the attorney general’s determination that their proposed amendment is ineligible for gathering signatures to be placed on the ballot for the 2026 general election.
LWVO files amicus brief
LWVO and its co-amici file an amicus brief supporting the proponents of BI-8, detailing the history of ballot initiatives in their states, and asking the court to apply the separate vote rule in a way that preserves voter access to the ballot initiative.
Montana Supreme Court issues opinion
The state supreme court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, declaring BI-8 was a single constitutional amendment and did not violate the separate vote rule.