Montana mail ballot bill fails amid racism allegation

Montana mail ballot bill fails amid racism allegation

MATT GOURAS, Associated Press

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A plan to use only mail-in ballots for the state's main elections, which haltingly moved forward with fragile bipartisan cooperation, failed Friday after allegations of racism from a Native American lawmaker and defensive counter-accusations.

The simmering tensions between Republicans and Democrats erupted, somewhat surprisingly, over a bill that modifies the way elections are run.

The House had abruptly changed its mind on the proposal after endorsing the proposal a day earlier. The b...