Court blocks limiting ballot collection

A state District Court judge has blocked a Montana law passed as a referendum in the 2018 election that limited the collection of absentee ballots during an election.

Judge Jessica Fehr in Billings granted an injunction Sunday blocking the application of the Ballot Interference Protection Act, which the 2017 Legislature placed on the ballot and the voters passed in 2018, saying the law infringes on the right to vote guaranteed in the Montana Constitution.

Fehr wrote that the plaintiffs successfully showed that if a preliminary injunction were not granted, “BIPA would cause irreparable harm to...