Montana

Thanks for your inquiry about Barack Obama's eligibility to be on Montana 's ballot as a candidate for President of the United States .

The filing functions of this office are ministerial -- in other words, we accept paperwork filed here in the manner prescribed by Montana law. Those laws for placing "presidential candidates" on the ballot work differently than you might expect. Technically, votes for President are cast for a slate of three delegates to the Electoral College, not for a candidate. However, those delegates are pledged to vote for a particular candidate, and the name of that candidate is listed on the ballot, rather than the names of the delegates. Every qualified political party in Montana has the right to submit the names of potential delegates to the Electoral College, and to have those delegates pledged to any individual as the candidate they would vote for President if they were elected to the Electoral College.

So Barack Obama would not have to provide a birth certificate or any other documentation to be on Montana 's ballot as a candidate for President. In fact, he would not even get a say in the matter. Once delegates of a qualified political party are nominated and pledged to him, he is on the ballot without regard to his personal acceptance or rejection of those votes.

The requirements of the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 2 (No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States) would be settled at the federal level.

Shannon H. Stevens
Legislative Specialist
Elections Division
Office of the Montana Secretary of State
(406) 444-4732