They Can’t Win Our Elections, So They’re Buying Our Ballot

I’ve spent the last two editorials laying groundwork. We established that Montana is a republic, not a democracy, and that the Founders built it that way on purpose. We established that the initiative and referendum process was designed by the Progressive Movement specifically to bypass elected representatives. Now I want to get concrete. Who is actually using this process against Montana, and what are they after?

Here’s the strategy, stated plainly. National progressive organizations have figured out that they cannot win elections in states like Montana. Montanans keep electing conservative legislators, conservative governors, and conservative constitutional officers. So rather than persuade Montana voters to change their minds — which is how a republic is supposed to work — they’re using the initiative process to impose their agenda without winning an election.

The money comes from outside. The signature gatherers often come from outside. The legal drafting comes from outside. The advertising comes from outside. What Montanans get is the result — a new law or a constitutional amendment that they didn’t really debate, written by people with no stake in what happens here afterward.

Let me give you some examples of what’s already happened and what’s being positioned for the future.

Marijuana legalization came to Montana in 2020 through initiative, with significant funding from national organizations. You can have whatever opinion you want about that policy — that’s not my point here. My point is that it bypassed the legislature entirely, arrived without the fiscal analysis and regulatory framework that a legislative process would have required, and was funded in substantial part by people who don’t live with the consequences.

Abortion is the next front. National abortion-rights organizations have been explicit about their strategy of targeting red-state constitutions through initiative. Montana’s relatively low threshold for constitutional amendment — ten percent of voters in a third of the districts — makes us a target. If they succeed, they don’t just pass a law. They embed abortion policy in our state constitution, where the legislature cannot touch it and where reversing it requires another statewide campaign.

Jungle primaries are another one to watch. You may have seen these called “final four” voting or ranked-choice schemes. The stated goal is to give voters more choices. The actual effect, in every state that has adopted it, has been to dilute conservative majorities and move election outcomes to the left. And here’s the data point that should get your attention: every state that has adopted jungle primaries through initiative was a reliably liberal state within a decade. Every one.

Then there are the land use and environmental measures. Ballot initiatives restricting grazing practices, water rights, and natural resource development have targeted western states repeatedly. For Fergus County and Petroleum County, where agriculture is not a lifestyle choice but a way of life and an economic foundation, these measures are existential. And they can be written by environmental organizations headquartered in Washington D.C. or San Francisco, signed by urban voters who’ve never worked a piece of ground, and passed over the objection of every rancher in central Montana.

The pattern is the same every time. Draft the measure with appealing language that obscures what it actually does. Hire professional signature gatherers — sometimes from out of state — to concentrate on urban population centers. Flood the airwaves with advertising paid for by national money. Win the ballot. Walk away.

Montana’s legislature has tried to push back. I’ve been part of those efforts. But as long as the initiative process exists in its current form, we are fighting with one hand tied. In my last editorial on this topic I’ll lay out what real reform looks like — and what we can actually do about it.