Montana's marquee Senate race is set, as Jon Tester and Tim Sheehy win primaries
NBCMay 27
Harris Temporarily Left Off Montana's Electronic Ballot
Above: Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 47th Annual Leadership Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on September 18, 2024. Image copyright: Kevin Dietsch/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Voters attempting to use Montana's' Electronic Absentee System to cast their ballot from overseas on Friday found that the name of VP Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was missing. The system was then temporarily taken offline.
The Montana Secretary of State's office said the error was isolated to the online system and only a small number of voters may have been impacted. The system was reportedly back online by Friday afternoon.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Although it doesn't appear anything nefarious took place with the online voting system, after Montana's Secretary of State was sued in order to repeal a series of voting reform laws that the courts ruled interfere with "fundamental" voting rights, it's understandable that Democrats are suspicious and desire to scrutinize this incident.
Republican narrative
There are bigger issues in the Montana election than a brief glitch with the online ballots. It seems Tester-aligned groups are bribing college athletes to record videos in support of the senator. Democrats may want to snuff out shady business originating on their own side before throwing out accusations of anti-Harris activity.