Ballots Shredded,
Envelopes Missing,
and Machines
Without Audit Trails
WRITTEN BY
Staff Writer
The Montana Paradox Montana looks, on the surface, like a model Republican state: a deep-red legislature, a Republican governor, and the GOP dominating federal representation. Yet underneath that façade, the state’s electoral system has become a battleground of mistrust, allegations of fraud, and structural weaknesses that invite abuse.
From shredded ballots in Carbon County to thousands of missing affirmation envelopes in Missoula, Montana’s elections keep generating anomalies that are brushed aside by officials but never resolved for the public. What makes Montana unique — and uniquely vulnerable — is that it is the only state in the nation where Cast Vote Records (CVRs), the digital audit logs that voting machines are designed to produce, are not retained. The Secretary of State’s office has instructed counties not to keep them, effectively erasing the very audit trail that could prove or disprove fraud.
Read the complete Article: Montana’s Democracy Crisis
