Legislature rejects special session request

[TexasTowelie]

A majority of lawmakers voted against a special session on election integrity — or didn’t vote at all.


An effort to call a special session of the Montana Legislature via lawmaker poll failed to gain majority support this week. According to the results compiled by the Montana Secretary of State’s office after the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, 44 legislators voted for the proposal and 60 voted against it. Forty-five lawmakers did not submit votes.

The proposed session would have focused on whether to create a special legislative committee to investigate election security in Montana. Ten Republican legislators submitted the poll request to Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen last month, with Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Stevensville, and Rep. Brad Tschida, R-Missoula, among them. Both have raised concerns about election integrity during the 2020 election in Montana and nationally, and Tschida has continued to level allegations of questionable activity specifically in Missoula County. Manzella, Tschida and others among the poll requesters also attended an August 2021 election security symposium in South Dakota hosted by MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, whose attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election have been repeatedly rebuffed or discredited by state officials across the country.

Tschida and Manzella did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the poll results Wednesday.

Lawmakers had one month to return their votes in the poll. Of the 99 members in the state House polled, 36 voted in favor of calling a special session and 38 voted against. Of the state’s 50 Senate members, 8 voted for and 22 voted against. All 44 of the “yes” votes were cast by Republicans.

Read more: https://montanafreepress.org/2022/04/20/montana-special-session-poll-fails/

[2naSalit]

1. K&R