Montana Green Party Hoping for ‘Hail Mary’ After Loss at State Supreme Court

After the Montana Supreme Court upheld a decision by District Judge James Reyonlds that removed Green party candidates from the ballot on Tuesday, Montana Green Party Coordinator Dani Breck was upset by the decision, but says they “saw it coming.” Even after the decision, she is still holding out hope that the Green Party could make it to onto Montana ballots before they are printed in the coming week.

“We do still have a little bit of time to stop the print,” Breck said. “If the state court grants us an emergency injunction, which essentially they would tell Corey Stapleton don’t enforce this law at least until we have heard the case. In which case, if the law in not being enforced than our 5,000 signatures is enough and we would get reinstated on the ballot. It is still possible in theory. It is becoming more and more of hail mary at this point, but it could still happen.”

Even if they don’t make it on the ballot this year, Breck there is still a chance Green Party candidates will be out campaigning.

“If we are not on the ballot this November it would of course be very very devastating for us,” Breck said. “We would have to get together collectively with the candidates and decide how they individually want to move forward. It is going to be a decision that is largely based on them because it is financially continuing to fight for an election that we are not even on the ballot. I feel like we might have a couple candidates that decide to run.”

While they may have lost in state court, the Montana Green Party is still challenging Montana election laws in federal court, arguing that they violate the first and fourteenth amendments with what Breck describes as “draconian” rules and requirements before parties can get on the ballot.