Category: State Legislator
Role: Montana State Representative, District 88 (Florence); Sponsor of HB 176 ending same-day voter registration (2021)
Priority: P1 (Sponsored HB 176; ended Election Day registration; signed into law; targeted college students and mobile populations)

Role

Sharon Greef, a Republican state representative from Florence representing Montana House District 88, sponsored House Bill 176 in 2021, which ended Montana’s same-day voter registration by closing registration the day before Election Day (with exceptions for military and overseas voters). The bill passed the Republican-controlled Montana Legislature with no Democratic support and was signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte, eliminating a voting access convenience that had been available to Montanans since 2006.

Background

Greef served in the Montana House of Representatives and was part of the coordinated Republican legislative effort in 2021 to restrict voting access. HB 176 had numerous co-sponsors including D. Ankney, M. Blasdel, B. Brown, M. Cuffe, J. Ellsworth, and many others, demonstrating broad Republican support for eliminating same-day registration. Montana had implemented same-day registration in 2006, and the state had no history of fraud or administrative problems with the system during its 15-year operation.

Documented Actions

1. HB 176 – Elimination of Same-Day Voter Registration (2021)

Evidence: Greef sponsored HB 176, which closed voter registration the day before Election Day, ending Montana’s 15-year practice of allowing same-day registration. The bill included exceptions for military and overseas voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), but eliminated same-day registration for all other voters.

Same-day registration had been particularly valuable for:

• College students moving between dorms or apartments
• Young people in their first election
• Voters who moved recently for work or family reasons
• Native Americans on reservations with nontraditional addresses
• Anyone who missed the registration deadline due to life circumstances

Montana Republicans provided no evidence that same-day registration had resulted in voter fraud or administrative problems during its 15 years of operation. Instead, the bill was framed as preventing potential future fraud—a justification courts have consistently found insufficient to burden voting rights without actual evidence of need.

The bill passed the Montana Legislature along party lines with no Democratic support and was signed into law by Governor Gianforte in April 2021. Voting rights groups immediately challenged the law, arguing it violated the Montana Constitution’s robust voting rights protections and disproportionately burdened younger and more mobile voters.

Sources: Montana Legislature, HB 176 (2021) bill text; Bozeman Daily Chronicle, April 19, 2021; Montana legal challenges to HB 176

Pattern: Elimination of long-standing voting convenience; targeting mobile populations (students, young workers); no fraud evidence during 15 years; preservation of military exception; immediate legal challenge

2. Coordinated Package with SB 169 and HB 506

Evidence: HB 176 was part of a coordinated package of three Montana voting restriction bills in 2021, each targeting different aspects of youth and student voting:

• HB 176 (Greef): Ended same-day voter registration, affecting students and mobile populations
• SB 169 (Sen. Mike Cuffe): Eliminated student IDs as stand-alone voter identification
• HB 506: Prevented those turning 18 on or before Election Day from receiving ballots early

All three bills passed with no Democratic support and were signed by Governor Gianforte. The coordinated nature demonstrated a deliberate strategy to target youth voting on multiple fronts: eliminating their preferred form of ID (student cards), removing their registration convenience (same-day), and preventing early ballot access for those turning 18 near Election Day. Voting rights organizations argued the package systematically disenfranchised younger voters without any demonstrated need.

Sources: Montana Legislature bill records; Bozeman Daily Chronicle; KTV-H Helena lawsuit reporting

Pattern: Multi-bill coordination; systematic targeting of youth voting infrastructure; no Democratic support; simultaneous enactment; immediate litigation

3. Disparate Impact on College Students and Native Americans

Evidence: Voting rights litigation challenging HB 176 documented its disparate impact on specific populations. College students were disproportionately affected because they frequently moved between addresses (dorms, off-campus housing, summer residences) and relied on same-day registration when their registration information became outdated. Montana’s college student population leans Democratic, creating a partisan dimension to the burden.

Native Americans on Montana reservations also faced particular burdens. Reservation addresses often don’t follow traditional street numbering, and same-day registration had allowed Native voters to resolve address discrepancies at the polls. Eliminating same-day registration forced Native voters to resolve address issues through less accessible means, potentially requiring trips to county offices far from reservations.

The 15-year history without fraud demonstrated that Montana’s same-day registration system had successfully served these populations without creating security concerns. The bill’s proponents could point to no actual problems requiring the restriction, only hypothetical future fraud that had not materialized during 15 years of operation across thousands of same-day registrations.

Sources: Legal briefs in Montana voting rights litigation; testimony from Montana Native American voting advocates; Montana college voter registration data