By Joel Krautter
First published in the Missoulian on July 12, 2025
When a decision can impact your life, whether it’s your freedom, your constitutional rights, or how much you’re going to pay in taxes when you go out for dinner or go shopping, wouldn’t you want to have a direct say on it? I know I would. Thankfully Montana’s Constitution gives Montana voters the power to directly vote “yay” or “nay” on provisions of Montana’s laws and the Constitution itself.
While we mostly think of our elected legislators voting on laws, Montana’s Constitution ensures all power truly lies with “we the people” through its initiative and referendum constitutional provisions. Montana is one of 26 states that puts this kind of direct democracy power in the hands of citizens—a right missing from our federal constitution. Provisions in the form of a referendum can be placed by the legislature on the ballot for the people’s vote or can be brought forth directly from the people as an initiative – qualifying for the ballot through signature-gathering.
What are some examples of ballot initiatives where Montanans directly made their will known? Recently Montanans passed constitutional initiatives to protect the right to abortion and provide enhanced privacy for your electronic data. Other high-profile ballot initiatives over the years have included passage of medical and recreational marijuana use, term-limits on elected officials, establishment of a children’s state health insurance program, and establishment of the state lottery – to name a few. Notable ballot initiatives Montanans rejected included a state sales tax (twice), restricting animal trapping on public lands, closing late voter registration on the Friday before election day and an initiative to require the legislature to meet annually instead of biannually.
News reports show groups are already looking at proposing ballot initiatives for 2026 to restrict corporate spending in elections and to constitutionally ensure Montana’s judicial elections remain non-partisan.
The ballot initiative and referendum power granted by our constitution is an incredible right that ensures the voice of “we the people” can be heard loud, clear and directly on important issues. The alternative for our 1972 Constitutional Convention delegates would have been leaving power to make laws solely in the hands of legislators who may be beholden to partisanship, special interests, or unwilling to pass anything that threatens their own perceived power.
Yet the ballot initiative process and power our constitution grants regular Montanans has been under attack in recent years by the legislature. In 2023 the legislature passed
laws to impose a new, upfront $3,700 filing fee for those wanting to put ballot initiatives before voters, require evaluation and comment by an interim legislative committee on ballot initiatives before proponents can go out to gather signatures (even allowing a favorable or unfavorable legislative committee vote and comment on the ballot petition to influence voters during signature gathering), and finally a prohibition on proposing ballot initiatives that may have failed in the previous four years.
Thankfully all of these arbitrary and intrusive restrictions to make it harder for ballot initiatives to get on the ballot have been struck down as unconstitutional. Yet the 2025 legislature again attempted to pass bills to burden the ballot initiative process. These measures failed but they marked more efforts by the legislature to shift power away from “we the people” and to themselves.
The constitutional right of the people to the initiative and referendum process is one that must be guarded, cherished and protected by Montanans as it ensures “we the people” can always have a direct voice in the direction of our state and government.
In Montana, the people are constitutionally supreme.
Joel Krautter resides in Billings and is a Montana attorney, former State Representative and a co-founder and board member of Friends of the Montana Constitution.