The Bills Explained

CI-127

This bill would create a requirement that no election could be won without a majority of the votes cast, as opposed to the current rule which is that the candidate who receives the most votes wins.  We oppose this initiative because it would make it even harder for minor parties like the MTLP to win elections.  Many have mistaken this as a "Ranked Choice Voting" (RCV) initiative, in fact it would leave it to the legislature how to resolve an election in which no candidate receives 50% of the votes.  Based on the statements of the leaders of the Montana legislature and their opposition to RCV, a two candidate runoff is the likely outcome if this is passed which would further strengthen the major party candidates.

CI-126

CI-126 is a complicated bill, and has been misrepresented as giving Montana "open primaries."  We already have open primaries, and MTLP is opposed to this initiative because it would require all candidates from all parties to compete in a SINGLE primary, and could limit the choices voters face by capping the number of candidates who can advance to the general election at 4.  MTLP is a "Qualified Party" under current Montana law, which enables us to have our own primary and for the winner to advance to the general election.  If 126 is passed, the legislature would be forced to create a qualification system for the new primary system, and MTLP is opposed to that because it could both imperil our current qualified party status, and would add an additional hurdle for qualifying MTLP candidates to advance to the general election.

CI-128

CI-128 is an initiative which libertarians have differing opinions on, and MTLP has no official position on the topic of abortion overall.  We oppose the initiative because it would create a positive right to abortion which could be used to force individuals to comply with another's views, to justify public funding of abortion, and ignores the complex issue of the rights of the unborn baby/fetus and when they begin.