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The Office of Public Instruction is forwarding this email to all school clerks and county superintendents from the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices in regard to the Ballot Interference Prevention Act (BIPA) and additional resources that are available to help with compliance. Please review and let us know if you have any questions.
Nicole Thuotte, Financial Specialist, 406-444-4524.
Good afternoon,
As you prepare for school elections next month and for the June primary, we wanted to share a few reminders about the Ballot Interference Prevention Act (BIPA) and some of the resources that are available to you through this office.
If you are planning to engage the voters in your jurisdictions with tips and education about the upcoming elections, it might be a good idea to include a note about the application of BIPA.
- BIPA requirements apply to the upcoming elections. Although many, if not all, jurisdictions are opting for mail ballot elections, if your jurisdiction provides for hand-delivered ballots, BIPA compliance is mandatory whenever and wherever a voter hand-delivers ballots for other people. If you are adding additional drop-off locations or accommodations for voters to drive-up and drop off ballots, please remember the law applies at those locations as well.
- BIPA does not apply to ballots returned by mail.
- Social distancing directives are likely to complicate your efforts to educate voters about BIPA requirements at ballot drop-off locations, so any measures that can be taken in advance to direct voters to resources and encourage them to print and complete the registry form ahead of time may help alleviate confusion and frustration at drop-off locations. Depending on the space available, poster-size forms for demonstration purposes and other large graphics may be useful in enhancing person-to-person contact in this era of 6 feet of physical separation.
- Each of your folders in OneDrive should include a folder entitled “BIPA Education and Outreach Materials.” We encourage you to look through these materials and use them in whatever way works for your circumstances. Some of these materials may lend themselves well to poster-sized, attention-grabbing signage or handouts at drop-off locations.
- Please make sure you have access to OneDrive for submitting/uploading BIPA forms for review by this office. Most of you have already been through this process, but if you have new staff who will need access or if your office has undergone any IT disruptions or changes, you may want to review your access. If you have identified new staff who will need access in order to submit scanned copies of BIPA forms, please email Jeff at Mangan@mt.gov with that employee’s first name, last name, and email address so he can ensure that employee is able to access your jurisdiction’s folder in OneDrive.
- We ask that you upload the scanned copies of BIPA forms submitted with hand-delivered ballots at least once a week through the election process.
- I will be the COPP staff who reviews the uploaded forms and tracks the data from the forms. If you would like to do a test run to make sure everything is working properly or for training purposes or a refresher for your staff, feel free to email me and I will be on the lookout for your test form and can verify receipt and readability.
- Please email me with any other questions you may have about the BIPA requirements and the uploading process. I am a relatively new hire here at COPP, so if I don’t know the answer right away, I will follow up with Jeff and make sure I get you timely and accurate information.
- I have included below the link to the BIPA portion of COPP’s webpage, and have attached to this email a PDF guide to uploading BIPA forms. You already likely have both at the ready, but I thought I’d include them again just in case. The guide is also located in your jurisdiction’s OneDrive folder.
http://politicalpractices.mt.gov/BIPA
Thanks for your attention, and please feel free to contact me with any matters related to BIPA processing on our end as you work through your elections in these unusual times.
Leanne
Leanne Kurtz
BIPA Support
Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices
1209 Eighth Avenue
P.O. Box 202401
Helena, Montana 59620-2401
(406) 444-2942
Leanne.Kurtz@mt.gov
For questions, please contact:
Kara Flath, School Finance Administrator, 406-444-3249
Nicole Thuotte, Financial Specialist, 406-444-4524
The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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