No, Kamala Harris’ name wasn’t removed from the ballot in Montana

With just weeks until the 2024 presidential election, people online have claimed Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris was removed from the ballot in Montana.

An X post reposted by Nancy Sinatra says Montana Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen instructed her staff to leave Harris’ name off of ballots sent to Montanans living abroad. A Reddit post says Harris’ name was “accidentally” left off the ballot.

VERIFY readers Rich, Jim and Robin asked us if these claims are true.

THE QUESTION

Was Vice President Kamala Harris’ name removed from the ballot in Montana?

THE SOURCES

• Office of Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen
• K.V. (“Ginger”) Aldrich, Yellowstone County, Montana, elections administrator
• Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act
• The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE)
• Sample ballots published by the Missoula County Board of Elections and Gallatin County Board of Elections

THE ANSWER 

No, Kamala Harris’ name wasn’t removed from the ballot in Montana. 

WHAT WE FOUND

Vice President Kamala Harris is still on the 2024 presidential election ballot in Montana. The confusion appears to have started after Harris’ name was briefly missing from an electronic ballot only available to voters abroad. The Montana Secretary of State’s office said this was caused by a technical error on Friday, Sept. 20, and was fixed the same day. 

“Contrary to egregious misinformation campaigns circulating online, the Montana Secretary of State's Office certified all qualified candidates to appear on its 2024 General Election ballot on August 22,” a release from the Montana Secretary of State’s office says. A list of candidates can be found here and Harris’ name is on the ballot. 

The 2024 general election officially began in Montana on Sept. 20 for eligible voters covered under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE) requires states to send absentee ballots to UOCAVA voters at least 45 days before federal elections. 

According to the Montana Secretary of State’s Office, shortly after going live at 8 a.m. on Sept. 20, election officials were notified about a glitch that resulted in Harris' name disappearing from Montana’s Electronic Absentee System (EAS). The system is only used by a “small number” of eligible voters that are overseas, either living abroad or serving in the military. 

“The Secretary of State's Office took the EAS offline while working with the vendor until troubleshooting was completed. By Friday afternoon, the system was back online and available to eligible UOCAVA voters, including those few voters who may have been impacted,” the release stated. “No ballots were affected, including those that will be sent to registered absentee voters and those that will be presented to voters at the polling place on Election Day.”

K.V. Aldrich, the Yellowstone County, Montana, elections administrator, told VERIFY that election officials across the state were notified on Friday morning that the state was “troubleshooting missing choices in races” and the system was taken offline. 

“Any problems with the system would not affect paper ballots which are printed and prepared separately. To my current knowledge, I am not aware of any Yellowstone County UOCAVA voters that were affected, beyond the short delay in being able to access the electronic system on Friday morning,” Aldrich said.

VERIFY reviewed sample ballots across a number of counties in Montana and Harris’ name was present on all of them. There are 753,767 registered voters in Montana.