Montana Title 13. Elections § 13-28-206. Submission of signatures--certification--election

(1) Signed sheets or sections of petitions with original signatures must be:

(2) The county election administrator shall certify a local government ballot issue for a local government election no later than 85 days before the election.

(3) Subject to 13-28-204(1) and subsections (1) and (2) of this section, an election on an approved petition containing sufficient signatures held pursuant to this chapter must be conducted in conjunction with the local government's next election held in accordance with Title 13, chapter 1, part 4.  However, if the petition requests a special election, is signed by at least 25% of the qualified electors, and otherwise complies with the requirements of subsections (1) and (2) of this section, a special election must be held on the date specified in the petition.  In order to determine the number of signatures needed on a petition to meet the percentage requirements of this subsection (3), the number of electors must be calculated as provided in 13-28-201(2).