Montana’s election season has gotten off to a rocky start after absentee voters realized Kamala Harris was not a listed candidate on their ballot.

The state was forced to shut down its electronic absentee voter system after it went live on September 20 when a voter reported that there was no option to vote for the vice president.

Max Himsl, a Montana voter living in the UK, reported the issue when trying to fill out his ballot online, according to the Daily Inter Lake, a local newspaper. He reported it right away to the Flathead County Election Department on Friday, September 20.

As a precaution the Secretary of State’s office, run by Republican Christi Jacobson, took down the electronic absentee system for troubleshooting, although it insisted that very few voters had been affected by this issue.


🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

  • Infynis@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    Next, they say that all ballots that were already submitted have to be counted as-is. Then later, it’s revealed that there were Kamala Harris write-ins submitted during this time, but rather than being counted, they were discarded as invalid

        • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          They’re not “guaranteed” not to win. Technically, 100 million people could spontaneously wake up and decide that they all want to vote for Tom Hanks as President of the United States. So long as Tom Hanks meets the qualifications for President, he wins.

          Of course, I have a better chance of winning the lottery every day until Christmas, and get blown by every NFL cheerleader in alphabetical order than of that ever happening. but our constitution does allow for the possibility.

    • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      This is the chaos the GOP has been planting in different states so that they can delegitimize their states voting to justify sending “alternate” electors.

    • andyburke@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      Hey, you may need a break! We don’t need to write the fanfic for the other side, that’s usually a sign of burnout.

      You should rest up then get back to it when you can be less defeatist. We need you.

      • modifier@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        People are downvoting you but I could definitely see myself needing a reality check like this in the next weeks, or probably days.

  • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Talk about you had one job. It’s a fucking two party dualopoly and you still f’d it up. Wreaks of intent.

    Also way to go Montana for having online voting though. How many states have this now?

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I’m going to give you “dualopoly,” it’s usually duopoly but I like yours.

      But the omission “reeks” of evil intent, as in we smell a rat. It will “wreak” (cause with terrible consequences) havoc on the election.

      Obviously it doesn’t really matter in Lemmy comments, but in case you want to use the words in a more formal situation, the more you know 🌈.

    • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Look, it’s a one-party system, be realistic. Before running an obvious spoiler you should focus on winning the Republican primary and getting more people in the state legislature.

      • unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz
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        2 months ago

        in case you’re having trouble understanding the population of Montana, I’ll post a quote from Wikipedia below.

        Montana, also. has not politically been absolutely Red or Blue. I’m not familiar with the politics of the state, but it is not historically Red or Blue, though I’m pretty sure it’s voted for Trump, and it’s previous Gov was a two-term Democrat. Current Gov is GOP Gianforte. Also sitting U.S. Montana Senator Jon Tester is a Dem.

        People have been living in Montana for thousands of years. Ask them about immigrants. And I don’t mean just ask the people running casinos.

        The United States Census Bureau states that the population of Montana was 1,132,812 on July 1, 2023, a 4.5% increase since the 2020 census.[191] The 2020 census put Montana’s population at 1,084,225. During the first decade of the new century, growth was mainly concentrated in Montana’s seven largest counties, with the highest percentage growth in Gallatin County, which had a 32.9% increase in its population from 2010 to 2020. The city having the largest percentage growth was Kalispell, with 40.1%, and the city with the largest increase in actual residents was Billings, with an increase in population of 12,946 from 2010 to 2020. >>

        • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          People have been living in Montana for thousands of years. Ask them about immigrants.

          The ones who’ve been living there for thousands of years, or rather the very few that are left, probably aren’t too fond of it.

          Or did you mean to write hundreds?

          • unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz
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            2 months ago

            sure. the indigenous people were just genocided, i guess, forced out or killed, I don’t even know. hopefully the headline in question doesn’t mean someone is trying to throw all elections in the state into question. it’s early still.

  • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    And so it begins, GOP election officials are gonna be getting up to all sorts of shit this cycle. I really hope we can turn out enough to make their efforts fruitless.

    • cranakis@reddthat.com
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      2 months ago

      Overwhelming numbers. Polls and national stories need to be ignored and we just need to get every single person we can to vote.

  • kescusay@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Has anyone done a systematic study on ballot bullshit like this to determine if it is ever in the other direction, or is it always, without exception, done to harm Democrats?

  • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    electronic absentee voter system

    the Secretary of State’s office, run by Republican Christi Jacobson

    All you need to know right there.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      Colorado was trying to do it on purpose using the legal system. This at least sounds like a mistake.

      • Zron@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        “Mistake”

        “Whoopsie daisy, I forgot to add 1 of the 2 candidates to the voting system, I’m such a silly goose”

          • Zron@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            If you’re trying to sow doubt in the election process from the ground up, it’s a great place to start.

            “Look Montana had an issue with absentee votes, where else do we have issues”

            Becomes

            “Montana had absentee voting issues, we can’t trust anything from absentee votes at all, they don’t count”

            • slackassassin@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              Surely. But if your purpose it to affect the ultimate outcome with the electoral college in mind, then this is not a good choice. It’s not exactly a swing state. Far from it.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    At this point the GOP will just keep trying crap like this and people will just allow it all … until eventually, the right just gets tired of playing around and just takes power out right because they know no one will stop them

    • andyburke@fedia.io
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      2 months ago

      If you really feel this way, you’re too tired and need a break. Others can and will spell you.

      You should take some time to recover and avoid posting defeatist stuff like this.

      Hope you feel better!

      • BallsandBayonets@lemmings.world
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        2 months ago

        I also feel this way, I would like that break you’re talking about. When can I expect my check for 12-48 months worth of living expenses and the ticket to a country that isn’t one election away from fascism?

  • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    Ahh once again doing the same thing orbán did in hungary. They had very few places to do absentee voting so there were 10+ hour queues at the stands. They knew that like 95% of voters outside hungary would vote opposition. The one place that had enough voter stands and proper support was romania where they had a huge voter base(after they gave out a bunch of hungarian passports because historically it was hungarian land).

  • PhAzE@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    Easy, mark all ballots already filled out as invalid because the choices weren’t properly given. Less R ballots to count.