Alerts

To County Election Administrators,

Hi,

House Bill 207 has been passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor on May 12, 2025. I have attached the bill text for your information.

The immediate effect of HB 207 is that the candidate filing opening date for the municipal primary changes from 145 days to 105 days, and the filing deadline changes from 85 days to 90 days before the election. The new municipal primary filing dates are May 27th, 2025, for the opening of filing and June 11th, 2025, as the close of filing. The write-in candidate filing deadline has also been changed to 90 days before the election, which is June 11th, 2025.

Candidates who filed with you before the bill's effective date were doing so under the old law and are fine. You don’t have to do anything but process the filing as normal. For candidates who filed after the change, we recommend holding on to the filing papers and processing the filing on May 27th.

You will also need to update any communication / public postings to reflect the candidate filing deadline changes. We recommend reaching out to your city governments so that they are aware of the change as well.

We will be updating the municipal election calendar posted on the SOS website - https://sosmt.gov/elections/calendars/.

Regards,

Stuart Fuller | Elections & Voter Services Manager

Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen

State Capitol Building