The Montana Supreme Court has restored a Butte-Silver Bow data-center initiative to the November ballot while an appeal continues, preserving a local vote after election officials changed the signature deadline weeks into the petition campaign.
The court’s temporary injunction bars the city-county from rejecting Local Initiative 00-02 because supporters missed the earlier deadline later identified by officials. A Sept. 22 account of the order said organizers had submitted 3,850 valid signatures—198 more than the 3,652 required.
Election Administrator Cynthia Sherman originally told organizers they had until Aug. 14 to submit signatures. On Aug. 10, the county said a 2025 law instead required submission by July 13. The law, Senate Bill 11, added a four-week interval between local petition submissions and the ballot-certification deadline; the Legislature passed it nearly unanimously before Gov. Greg Gianforte signed it April 17, according to the bill’s history.
Organizers sued Aug. 12, arguing the county should not reverse the deadline after accepting weekly signature batches and confirming July 31 that the requirement had been met. District Judge Frank Joseph ultimately sided with the county Aug. 28, finding that the statutory deadline controlled despite the incorrect instructions. The organizers then sought emergency relief from the state Supreme Court.
The justices concluded that leaving the measure off the ballot could irreparably deny voters their initiative rights if the organizers later win their appeal. The ruling does not resolve the underlying dispute: the initiative could still be invalidated after the election if the court determines that its placement violated state law.
The practical challenge is immediate. Butte-Silver Bow told the court that ballots had already been printed and some had been sent and returned without the measure. The county proposed modifying existing ballots or issuing supplemental ballots, and asked the justices for direction on how to comply without violating election procedures. The court gave initiative supporters until noon Thursday to respond and said it would rule as quickly as possible.
The initiative’s official language would prevent the city-county from authorizing construction or expansion of a data center after Nov. 3 unless a special election wins approval from two-thirds of all registered voters. That threshold is higher than two-thirds of ballots cast because nonvoters would effectively count against approval.
A similar data-center petition in Yellowstone County was derailed by the same deadline issue. There, election officials had also given organizers a later date before concluding that the new statute required signatures weeks earlier, according to a detailed review.
The Butte measure will remain protected while the Supreme Court decides the appeal. For voters and administrators, the next question is not whether the initiative can proceed for now, but how the county will deliver a consistent ballot to residents who have already begun voting.
