JOHNSON REPLIES TO MOVEON.ORG

HELENA—Secretary of State Brad Johnson replied today to the Political Action Committee of MoveOn.Org, following a petition they delivered to the Secretary’s office. The petition, circulated on the MoveOn.org website, called on recipients to adopt paper ballots and mandatory post-election audits of vote counts.

“Montana already has paper ballots,” Johnson pointed out. “It’s one of the reasons that Montana’s elections are among the cleanest, fairest in the country.”

MoveOn.Org delivered 1001 electronic petition signatures to Johnson’s office from individuals who used MoveOn.org’s website to express agreement with the following statement: “We must act quickly to secure our elections with paper ballots and audits before November.”

Johnson cited Montana’s pre-existing paper ballot law, the ability of counties to use hand counts at their discretion, and dedicated local election officials as reasons MoveOn.org, and other organizations with an interest in elections, should use Montana’s elections as an example for the rest of the nation.

Johnson said it’s always valuable when citizen groups take an interest in elections. He said, “Just because this time they focused on an issue where Montana is already leading doesn’t mean we won’t have other opportunities to work together.”

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