KXLH: “A state judge Friday ruled that Green Party candidates should not appear on the November general election ballot in Montana, saying the petition that led to their qualification in March is invalid. District Judge James Reynolds of Helena said several hundred people who signed the petition were improperly denied their request to withdraw their signatures, after discovering that the Montana Republican Party was behind the petition drive.”

“He said the withdrawal requests must be accepted, and that with those withdrawals, the petition falls short of the minimum needed to qualify the Green Party for the 2020 ballot. In his 50-page order, Reynolds essentially said the state GOP engaged in ‘constructive fraud’ and ‘negligent representation’ by not timely disclosing its role in the petition drive, thus justifying acceptance of the signature withdrawals. ‘The actions of the Montana GOP and its agents demonstrate that its misrepresentations and failures to disclose in violation of Montana campaign finance law were intentionally designed to create an advantage for the MT GOP at the expense of unwitting signers,’ he wrote. If Reynolds’ order stands, five Green Party candidates – for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, attorney general and state Senate in Missoula – will not appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. The Republican Party on Friday called Reynolds an ‘activist judge’ and said he denied evidence showing that the GOP properly disclosed its efforts to finance the petition drive to qualify the Green Party.”