Voting Information

Good question! The easiest way to check is to use the official Montana Secretary of State’s “My Voting Information” website: enter your information on the page – if you find a record for yourself, you are registered.

Check over the information to make sure it’s correct. If you need to change anything, check out “How do I update my address or other voter registration info” below.

Yes! Montana lets all eligible voters register to vote up through Election Day with two small exceptions: 1) the office is closed on weekends, and 2) on Monday, 11/2 after 12 pm. To be eligible to vote you just need to have lived in Montana for 30 days, be 18 years old, and be a U.S. Citizen.

Since we’re close to election day in the “late registration” period you have to go in person to the Gallatin County Election Office on the second floor of the Gallatin County Courthouse building (311 W. Main St, Room 210) or to any of the other locations listed here: Gallatin County Elections | Late Registration & Absentee Ballot Services

You will need an accepted form of ID, which includes any of the following:

• A Montana Driver’s License or Montana State ID Card
• The last 4 digits of your social security number
• A copy of another form of identification. This can be a photo ID that shows your name or an acceptable ID that shows your name and current address (Tribal ID, a recent paycheck stub, utility bill, or bank statement, your student ID, or another government document addressed to you)

You can register and make changes to your registration in-person at the Gallatin County Elections Office (on the second floor of the Gallatin County Courthouse building at 311 W. Main St, Room 210) or any of the other locations listed here: Gallatin County Elections | Late Registration & Absentee Ballot Services

• You will need an accepted form of ID, which includes any of the following:
  • A Montana Driver’s License or Montana State ID Card
  • The last 4 digits of your social security number
  • A copy of another form of identification. This can be a photo ID that shows your name or an acceptable ID that shows your name and current address (Tribal ID, a recent paycheck stub, utility bill, or bank statement, your student ID, or another government document addressed to you)
• You can make changes and vote a new ballot right away, no waiting for anything in the mail.

If you are registered to vote in-person in Montana, the best place to find your local voting location is to use the official Montana Secretary of State’s “My Voting Information” website: https://voterportal.mt.gov/WhereToVote.aspx. 

Enter your information and check two things:

• 1) Make sure it says “No” under “Absentee Voter”. If it says “yes” you signed up to receive your ballot by mail and vote by mail, you will not be able to vote in-person. If that’s the case, see “I still haven’t received my ballot…” below!
• 2) Click “Polling Places” on the left-side menu. You will see the address of where you can go to vote in-person. You can either go to your designated polling place, or the Gallatin County Elections Office (311 W. Main Street, Room 210) (typically more busy). Don’t go to a different polling place – they won’t have the right ballot for you!

At this point, it probably is – let’s fix it! Ballots were mailed to all registered absentee voters on October 9th, so if you have not received it yet it almost certainly means it’s not going to show up on its own. Here’s what to do:

• Check your registration: use the official Montana Secretary of State’s “My Voting Information” website: https://voterportal.mt.gov/WhereToVote.aspx.
• If your registration shows “Absentee Voter: No” then you’re actually registered to vote in person. You can either check your polling location and vote on Election Day, or you can go in-person to the Gallatin County Elections Office (311 W. Main Street, Room 210) and request an absentee ballot.
• Otherwise: there may have been another issue with your ballot (it was delivered to the wrong address, lost in the mail, etc.) and you should go to the Gallatin County Elections Office (311 W. Main Street, Room 210) with a photo ID and proof of your current address to get a new ballot (proof of address can be shown on your ID, or otherwise can be a lease, utility bill payment, or something else to prove where you live).

Yes – you can go to the Gallatin County Elections Office (311 W. Main Street, Room 210) on Monday (11/2) between 8am and 12pm.

As long as you have a photo ID and proof of your current address (e.g. it’s shown on your ID, or you have a copy of your lease or a utility bill), they will give you a ballot then and you can vote then and there!

No, you don’t need a Montana ID to vote! You do need to be registered to vote in Montana (which does not require a Montana ID – see the other questions above), but you only need to bring ID when you vote in person or if you need to change your registration info.

• The following types of IDs are accepted as identification when you go to vote in person:
  • Valid Driver’s License or REAL ID
  • MT State Identification Card
  • Military ID
  • Tribal Photo ID
  • U.S. Passport
• If you vote by absentee ballot (i.e. in the mail), you don’t need to show ID at all – you just need to put your ballot in the provided secrecy sleeve and sign the outer envelope where indicated!

No, technically you do not, but we still recommend that you do. A Montana Judge recently struck down the requirement for voters to write their birth year on their ballot envelope (see Montana Free Press: “State judge strikes down ballot envelope birth year requirement”), so it is not required this year. However to avoid any potential issues, we still recommend that you put your birth year in the box on your ballot envelope.

• If you have already returned your ballot, you can check on its status at the official Montana Secretary of State’s “My Voting Information” website: https://voterportal.mt.gov/WhereToVote.aspx. 
• Click on the “Track my ballot” tab on the side – if your ballot has been counted without any issues, you will see the status show as “ACCEPTED.”.
• If you have any issues or there is a problem with your ballot, you can fix it and still be counted by reaching out to the Gallatin County Elections Office: https://www.gallatinmt.gov/380/Elections