HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal appeals court says a law that allows only Montana residents to gather signatures to qualify initiatives for the state ballot is unconstitutional. However, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld part of the law that bans signature-gatherers from being paid based on the number of signatures they collect in an effort to reduce fraud. Wednesday’s ruling came in a recent challenge to a 2007 law passed after a fraudulent signature-gathering effort qualified three ballot initiatives in 2006. The initiatives were removed from the ballot after court testimony found some signature gatherers deceived residents into unknowingly signing petitions for more than one initiative.
Appeals court: Out-of-state petitioners can work in Montana
