#DYK that Montana is one of only four states that don’t allow someone under 18 to serve as an election judge?
FMF high school leaders are working to change that by working with Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, the youngest legislator in Montana, to pass HB510. HB510 would allow 16-year-olds to serve as election judges.
Learn more about HB510 by reading the bill here.
HB510 already passed out of committee and is now headed to the house floor! Next Step: contacting our representatives to ask them to vote YES on HB510. It’s super easy to contact your legislator.
- Look up your Representative on the legislative database and decide if you wanna call or email your Representative.
- No matter how you contact them, be sure to clearly state your name and your address and let them know that you’re a constituent in their district.
- After you’ve introduced yourself make sure to say clearly that you want them to vote YES on HB510 and state why. Need some help describing why? Use some of our talking points:
By lowering the age that Montanans can serve as election judges, the state demonstrates a sense of trust in young Montanans to safeguard the security of our election. We know that trust can engender a sense of power over our systems of governance.
Allowing 16 year old’s to participate as election judges creates paths for young people to become well-versed in elections rules and procedures. Recruiting younger poll workers benefits both youth voter turnout and long-term civic engagement.
Younger voters have a deep familiarity with the technologies used in the voting process. This familiarity and experience with complicated technologies is something that election officials would benefit greatly from and would ensure election day runs smoothly.
Across Montana, poll worker positions are notoriously hard to fill. This would identify an entire additional poll of election judges that are often needed to work the polls.
Nice work, pal! You’ve contacted your legislator — now help a friend contact their Representative about HB510!
Got questions? Contact Amara at Amara@forwardmontana.org.