Montana Viewpoint: A personal note from my government
Jim Elliott
Got a nice postcard from Christi Jacobsen the other day. Christi is Montana’s Secretary of State and responsible for running our Elections in Montana. Nice picture of Christi next to what looked like a life-size cardboard cut-out of President Trump with his famous thumb up gesture.
Christi wrote to say that she was “partnering with the Trump administration” to make sure that only American citizens get to cast a vote in our elections. Must be a pretty big issue, too. Here’s what a story on Fox News from August 2, 2025, said about it:
“While states have identified noncitizens on voter rolls and removed them as part of routine voter list maintenance, rarely have they been found to have cast ballots. ‘Existing safeguards are broadly effective,’ a Center for Election Innovation and Research analysis recently found.”
Still and all, we can’t be too careful. Two women in Phillips County, Montana who had only work permits registered to vote in the mayor’s race in Malta. They weren’t citizens and got popped on a misdemeanor charge according to an article in the Daily Interlake of January 5, 2026.
It’s not just non-citizens we have to worry about. In 2011 a woman asked me what she should do about her estranged husband forging her name on an absentee ballot. She had been contacted by her local election administrator who was suspicious of the signature on the ballot. “That’s easy, I said, turn him in.” And she did making him one of the only two people listed in the Heritage Foundations voter fraud list since 1982.(https://electionfraud.heritage.org/)
The other one was a fellow in Bozeman who registered as Miguel Raton in 2021. Miguel Raton translates to English as Mickey Mouse. Actually, Mickey Rat, but we get the idea.
So, the program that Christi is entering into, I think, (because she doesn’t actually say) is one where the Department of Homeland Security provides citizenship data to the states who send them their complete voter file lists for inspection. This is a pretty big deal, because the feds don’t usually get to see that personal data because, under the US Constitution, our elections are run by the states. Which means, as far as I can tell, that Christi is giving up some of the State of Montana’s rights to the feds.
As far as the postcard is concerned, although it was nice, it was kind of impersonal. The card was addressed to me, or at least a government issue ID alias of me called LOCAL CUSTOMER, sent to my mailing address. Since Jacobsen oversees Montana elections, I presume it is also the address on file of my voting address.
This causes me to worry that I may now be registered to vote in Montana under the name LOCAL CUSTOMER. I want to emphatically and categorically state—on the record—that I have not registered to vote in any state, city, or any political jurisdiction under the name LOCAL CUSTOMER. You might want to look this up for yourself if you also received a postcard addressed to LOCAL CUSTOMER at your home address. Since it was mailed out with a postal permit from Helena, Montana, I cannot believe that mine was the only card sent.
As I read the card and contemplated the cost of having it printed and mailed at whatever the Post Office charges I thought this could have been done cheaper as a press release, but what do I know.
But, as to the issue of the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, in order to make sure that only citizens vote the Federal government will ask the states to demand that prospective voters have to provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
Currently, when we register, we are asked to swear that we are citizens of the United States and are reminded about the penalties for false swearing. Under the SAVE Act we will be required to produce proof such as citizenship papers, a birth certificate or a passport. Since most people do not have passports, I assume they will need to get one, which costs around $100. Which also reminds me that having to pay money to vote, as in having to pay a poll tax, was outlawed in 1966. Then there’s the issue having to get a new ID because of name changes due to divorce or marriage…the list goes on.
Well, it’s a mystery. All I know that the closer you try to get to perfection the more it will cost in time, money, or freedom.