"This audit is a victory for Montanans," Johnson said. "It's a victory for the dedicated county elections officials around Montana who make this system work. We protected the integrity of our electoral process, and it shows."
The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) performance audit used the new statewide voter registration database, implemented by the Secretary of State's office during Johnson's term, to search voter records for areas where the rules of HAVA were not being followed.
"We're bringing this office into the twenty-first century," Johnson said. "Without that voter registration database, it would not have been possible to track these issues."
Some findings in the text of the audit include:
- No evidence was found of deceased individuals voting.
- No evidence was found of incarcerated felons voting.
- No evidence was found of duplicate votes (voting twice).
- Evidence was found of one individual who attempted to use the late registration process to vote twice, but county controls prevented any fraud.
- Although the audit found no evidence of these varieties of voter fraud, heightened efforts to protect against voter fraud were recommended.
- In the 2006 elections, the state achieved the lowest number of over and under-votes in at least fourteen years.
- Voter education efforts were one of the most important factors leading to the record-low number of over-votes and under-votes.
- Voter education efforts were generally well-received.
- Provisional balloting was working well in Montana.
- Changes in voting systems would not have altered the outcome of any legislative race.
- Montana is making good progress toward accessible voting for individuals with disabilities.
- In addition, the audit found numerous areas where further improvements could be made in Montana's election process to help it better comply with HAVA.
