Attorney General Knudsen issues binding opinion on voter eligibility of felons at Warm Springs
HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen today issued an Attorney General’s Opinion (AGO) holding that felons placed in Warm Springs, the Montana State Hospital (MSH), for psychiatric treatment are prohibited from voting just as their counterparts serving prison sentences in other correctional facilities. The AGO, which carries the weight of law in Montana, was issued after a request from Lake County Attorney James Lapotka.
Earlier this month, Disability Rights Montana sued the elections administrator in Deer Lodge County claiming inmates placed at the Montana State Hospital should be eligible to vote. Subsequently, Judge Raymond Dayton erroneously granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) ordering the elections administrator to allow the MSH inmate, a violent felon, named in the lawsuit to vote. In addition to issuing the AGO, Attorney General Knudsen filed Monday a motion to dissolve the TRO.
“The law is clear, convicted felons lose their right to vote while they are serving their sentence. Serving time at Warm Springs while being treated for mental illness does not restore that right,” Attorney General Knudsen said.
As outlined in the AGO, a person who is “serving a sentence for a felony in a penal institution” is ineligible to vote under Article 4, Section 2 of the Montana Constitution, which includes felons serving time at Warm Springs as they are still in confined status.
For example, Warm Springs inmates could be transferred to another correctional facility at the direction of a government official because the person no longer requires medical care; and have no right to avoid being sent to another correctional facility, but rather are being treated to be sent to another correctional facility. Additionally, their time at MSH is limited to their prison sentence, which further proves their confinement status.
Only felons placed in a non-confined status, such as parole, probation, or a deferred or suspended sentences are eligible to vote under Article 4, Section 2 of the Montana Constitution – not felons serving time at Warm Springs.
Montana law was crafted to ensure that a person, serving time in a mental hospital and may be mentally ill, does not enjoy fewer rights. However, allowing a felon serving time in a mental hospital, rather than prison, remain eligible to vote would give them more rights. Additionally, allowing prisoners at MSH to vote would also lead to “absurd results” as a prisoner scheduled for surgery on election day and transferred to the hospital would be eligible to vote even though they have not been released from custody.
Read the Attorney General’s Opinion here.
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