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Through the partnership between the Montana Secretary of State’s Office and county election administrators, the decision was made to not implement the new election management system at this time. The decision comes following a scheduled meeting between the Secretary of State Office’s Elections Division, a representative of the county election administrators, and the software vendor.

“The decision to implement a new system was a data-driven decision since the project began in 2019. If the established criteria had been met, the system would have been implemented. Montana will not launch an election management system that isn’t ready, and it’s not ready,” said Secretary Jacobsen.

“We all share the common goal of voter confidence, election integrity, and transparency. The strengths for election integrity in Montana include our election officials, paper ballots, post-election audits, and tabulating equipment that does not connect to the internet. The election system Montana uses is a key component of election integrity.”

The Secretary of State’s Office partnered with county election administrators and that partnership will continue going forward. The Secretary of State’s Office will be discussing the next steps for the project with the software vendor. The new system, once ready, will provide a modern, user-friendly platform for local and state officials to administer elections.

The state will continue to utilize its current election management system, MT Votes.