Havre teacher among plaintiffs in election law lawsuit

A Havre High School teacher is one of the plaintiffs asking the courts to overturn a law passed this year by the Legislature that restricts Election Day registration.

Havre High band teacher Cullen Hinkle is one of the plaintiffs, citing his need to use same-day registration in the 2020 election or not be able to vote.

The other plaintiffs are Montana Federation of Public Employees, Montana American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, Montana Association of Centers for Independent Living and Montana voters Samantha Harrington, Adam Clinch, Paul Dougherty, Ashley Johnson, Greg Werber, Wyatt Murdoch, Theresa Froehlich Dutoit, Jasmine Taylor and Karen Cook.

The law faces challenges in three other lawsuits as well.

The law, introduced as House Bill 176 by Rep. Sharon Greef, R-Florence, essentially eliminates same-day registration, requiring new voters or voters who have changed their county of residence to register in an election office during regular business hours.

The lawsuit says Hinkle, who moved from Louisiana to Havre in 2020 to start teaching at Havre High, says he works from 6:30 a.m. to around 7 p.m. most days and is unable to get to the election office - the Hill County Clerk and Recorder's Office - During regular business hours.

It said that, as it was for most educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hinkle had a difficult year overseeing 200 students, many of whom were going in and out of quarantine. He could not make a trip to the election office during business hours with his responsibilities at the school growing, the lawsuit says.

On Election Day, he was able to leave the school early to go out to vote, including updating his registration.

"Had HB 176 been in effect and were Election Day registration not available to him, (Hinkle) would have been turned away from the polls despite meeting all the eligibility criteria to vote in Montana," the suit says.

The other voters who are plaintiffs on the suit have similar stories.

The lawsuit also notes that Montanans in 2014 overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative trying to end same-day registration.

It alleges that the law does not advance any state interest and is not tailored to any state interest.

The bill was passed in a largely party-line vote in the name of improving election integrity and on reducing the workload put on election officials on Election Day.

The lawsuit, which says voting is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right in Montana which the state Constitution says no power "shall at any time interfere to prevent the free right of suffrage," alleges that the law violates the constitution by restricting people's ability to vote.

More than 70,000 people have used same-day registration in the last eight election cycles, thousands of whom would not have been able to exercise their right to vote if HB 176 was in place, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says in its second count that the law also violates the constitutional right to equal protection by discriminating against Montanans who move to another county, creating an arbitrary distinction between them and the rest of the population of Montana including people who move to another location in the same county and people who have not moved.

It also discriminates against new Montana voters, infrequent Montana voters and inactive Montana voters, creating additional burdens for them and creating an arbitrary distinction between them and the rest of the voting population.

The lawsuit also alleges the law creates an added burden Montanans with mobility, vision and other disabilities, increasing the number of trips these Montanans must make to an elections office.