Opinion ID: 890151
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Post-Decision Events

Text: ¶ 13 The State filed its notice of appeal with the Clerk of this Court on March 21. Also on March 21, the State filed with the Clerk of the District Court a motion pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 62(c) and M.R.App. P. 22(1)(a)(i) for an immediate stay of the District Court's March 20 order. The State argued that under § 13-27-501, MCA, the Secretary of State had to certify LR-119 for the June 5 ballot by 5:00 p.m. on March 22. If certification did not take place (per the District Court's order), then the preparation of the voter information pamphlets concerning this issue would cease and the ballots would be prepared without LR-119. The State proposed that if the District Court stayed its order, the Secretary of State could certify LR-119 and move forward with the voter information pamphlets and ballots. In the event this Court ultimately reversed the District Court's order, then the pamphlets and ballots would already be prepared. Conversely, if this Court affirmed the District Court's order, then we could order that the votes on LR-119 should not be counted and have no force or effect, as occurred in Montanans for Justice v. State, 2006 MT 277, ¶ 87, 334 Mont. 237, 146 P.3d 759. If, however, the Secretary of State did not certify LR-119, and if this Court ultimately reversed the District Court's order, then it might not be possible to prepare voter information pamphlets and ballots for LR-119 in time for the June 5 election. ¶ 14 Notwithstanding its request for an immediate stay, the State did not present the District Court with a proposed order or include a separate notice that the matter had to be ruled upon before 5:00 p.m. the next day. Nor did the State request that the Clerk of the District Court bring the motion to the court's attention within a certain timeframe. One had to read the State's brief to glean this information; however, as explained by the Clerk of the District Court, she and her staff do not have the time to read and interpret all of the documents filed with the court. As a result, the State's motion was not presented to the District Court judge until approximately 1:30 p.m. on March 23. By this time, pursuant to §§ 13-10-208 and -209, MCA, the Secretary of State had already certified to local election administrators the candidates and ballot issues that are to appear on the June 5 ballot. In compliance with the District Court's March 20 order, the Secretary of State did not certify LR-119 for the ballot. Thus, because it was too late to issue an effective order staying its March 20 order, the District Court denied the State's motion on March 23. ¶ 15 On April 4, the State filed a motion in this Court to expedite the briefing and disposition of this appeal. The State explained that under § 13-21-210(5), MCA, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973ff et seq.), absentee ballots must be provided to oversees and absentee electors not later than 45 days before a federal primary election. Thus, should this Court reverse the District Court's March 20 order, a supplemental ballot would have to be prepared and ready for mailing by April 20 in order to comply with state and federal deadlines. The State asserted that the April 20 deadline could be met if this Court rendered its decision by April 13, but if an expedited disposition were not granted, then this appeal would effectively be moot. The State opined that the voter information pamphlets could follow in a later mailing, provided that this Court allowed for mailing of the pamphlets on a timeline different from the statutory deadline. The State provided no authority for this Court to do so, however. Finally, the State noted that it was prepared to submit its opening brief by April 6. ¶ 16 This Court granted the State's motion on April 5. We ordered the State to file its brief by April 6, Plaintiffs to file their brief by April 10, and Legislators to file their amicus brief (if they wished to file one) by April 10. [4] With the briefing completed, this Court issued an order on April 12 affirming the District Court's March 20 decision. We stated that our opinion, analysis, and rationale would follow in due course. The analysis and rationale for our April 12 order are now provided herein.