The Independent View: Montana Republican Party Closed Primary Lawsuit

Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this update.

As previously noted here, on September 9, 2014, the Republican Party of Ravalli County, Montana, filed a federal lawsuit to obtain a closed primary for the Republican Party.

On January 10 the state Republican central committee will meet and vote on whether the state party should join the lawsuit.

A pre-trial conference has been set for December 11. It’s somewhat likely the pre-trial conference will be postponed, to wait for the state party’s decision.

The case is Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch, 6:14cv-58.

The case is assigned to Judge Brian Morris, an Obama appointee and a former member of the Montana Supreme Court.

The state would defend the open primary by saying a county party doesn’t have standing to sue, and that only the state party has standing. So the January 10th meeting could determine if this lawsuit continues.

UPDATE
On January 2, 2015, the Republican Party of ten Montana counties filed an amendment. The amended complaint adds a challenge to the part of the law that requires election of party officers in an open primary.

Although the state Republican Party is still not a plaintiff, the Republican Party state convention in June 2014 passed a resolution, almost unanimously, that “it is the position of the Montana Republican Party that the voters that select candidates to appear on the general election ballot should be limited to members of the Republican Party who have registered themselves as members of the party if a primary election process is used.”

The ten county Republican Parties which are in the lawsuit already are those of Ravalli, Gallatin, Sanders, Dawson, Stillwater, Richland, Carbon, Flathead, Madison, and Big Horn Counties.