The Montana Republican Party withdrew those challenges earlier this week, after being stung by accusations it was trying to suppress the vote in seven Democratic-leaning counties.
Democrats initially vowed to press on with the case, and a hearing was scheduled for next week before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula. But after Secretary of State Brad Johnson filed court documents saying similar voter challenges should be rejected in the future, Democrats said they were dropping their lawsuit.
Weaver noted that Johnson also had directed all county election officials to reject the Republicans' challenge of the 6,000 voters.
Of those challenges, about 3,200 were in Missoula County; 1,400 in Lewis and Clark County; and 700 in Silver Bow County. The other counties where challenges occurred are Deer Lodge, Hill, Glacier and Roosevelt.
Only about 250 of the challenged voters, in Hill and Glacier counties, received any notice about the challenges.
Weaver said the secretary of state's office agreed to order those two counties to send another letter to those 250 voters, informing them that the challenges had been dropped and that their right to vote is intact, and that they should show up at the polls and vote (or vote absentee).
Within hours, Republicans issued a statement claiming the lawsuit had been dropped because the law was on their side. Party spokesman Bridger Pierce said the challenges had been made “in good faith” and were not meant to disenfranchise voters as Democrats had alleged.
“Based on the facts and the law, the Democratic Party made the only decision it could,” Pierce said. “This issue at the heart of their lawsuit was moot, and there was no violation of federal law as alleged by the Democrats.”
On Wednesday, Molloy had rejected the Democrats' request for an injunction but had scheduled a hearing on whether Montana registration laws run counter to federal law. In his order, the judge blasted GOP executive director Jake Eaton for his “mischief” in targeting Democratic voters through the challenges.
But Molloy also said it was the state - not the party - that risked violating voter registration laws, if election officials were to use the challenges to revoke or force changes to voter registrations.
The Republican challenges were based on a comparison of voter registration rolls and a U.S. Postal Service change of address database.
Under the National Voter Registration Act, such evidence is considered insufficient to challenge a person's right to vote. State law does not expressly prohibit the use of change of address information, but state election officials are bound by the federal law.
Johnson had issued instructions to that effect to county elections officials on Oct. 3. After Judge Molloy later questioned whether Johnson's instructions left room for interpretation, the secretary of state reinforced that position in court documents submitted Friday.
“To be absolutely clear, it is the secretary of state's position that a voter challenge premised solely on a change-of-address form cannot be granted to remove a voter from the registry,” attorneys for the state wrote in a brief submitted by Johnson on Friday.
Missoulian State Bureau reporter Mike Dennison contributed to this story.
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