Montana Republicans are aiming to change election laws for the Montana Senate race in an effort to restrict the final contest to two parties.
The move is understood as attempting to box out Libertarian candidates, who are perceived as taking away votes from Republicans, Montana Public Radio reported. A “jungle primary” would be held with all the candidates, and the two with the most votes would then proceed to the general election, in which voters may only vote for one of the two.Republicans are hoping that this new system would push them over the edge in the next Senate race against Sen.
The measure, introduced by Republican state Sen. Greg Hertz, is presented as a test run, with a preplanned end date of 2025 — right after the 2024 Senate race.“Let’s not kid ourselves: This is just brazen partisanship targeting a single race. This isn’t fair. This isn’t what Montanans want — they don’t want one-party rule,” state Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers said.
The state's Libertarian Party also issued a statement condemning Senate Bill 566. The bill passed 27-23 in the Senate and will now move on to the Republican-dominated House.Despite Republican confidence that the move will bring Libertarian Party voters over to their side, an analysis by FiveThirtyEight suggested that it may not be so simple.
While Republicans and Libertarians combined obtained more votes than Tester in two of the last three elections, many of the Libertarian voters said they would not have voted at all if the Libertarian candidate wasn't in the race. The Republicans would need to take a large majority of former Libertarian votes, something the analysis shows will be difficult.
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