UPDATED: Montanans pulling heavily for nonpartisan courts

Just after midnight, CI-132 continued to hold onto its 38-point lead among Montana voters, a margin unlikely to be overcome by the number of outstanding votes to tally, according to data from the Secretary of State’s Office.

At 9:45 p.m., nearly two hours after polls closed in Montana, the Secretary of State’s office showed 171,000 votes for Constitutional Initiative 132 — a measure to enshrine nonpartisan judicial races in the state constitution.

Preserving the nonpartisan judiciary led 69%-31% in the early results, one of the strongest leads of any Montana races this early.

Nonpartisan courts have been part of Montana’s judicial branch for nearly 100 years, but recently the state’s Republican Party has sought to change the system to allow for judges to run with partisan tags, saying it would help educate voters. 

Supporters of the nonpartisan judiciary — comprising existing judges, lawyers groups and a cross-partisan coalition of elected officials — say keeping politics out of one branch of government is essential for balancing out one-party majority rule. Currently, the top five “constitutional” officers in Montana, which includes the governor, attorney general and secretary of state, are Republican, as is the state’s entire Congressional delegation.