HELENA — A judge in Anaconda has ruled one man committed to the Montana State Hospital should be allowed to vote – but he hasn’t yet decided the broader issue for others in the same situation.
Last week, District Judge Ray Dayton granted a request for a preliminary injunction, stating that the man met the requirements to vote under the Montana Constitution and state law.
While the constitution says people aren’t qualified to vote if they’re “serving a sentence for a felony in a penal institution” or “of unsound mind, as determined by a court,” but Dayton said MSH is not a penal institution, and that no court had specifically found the man to be of unsound mind.
“The Court wholly rejected the defendant’s arguments,” said Tal Goldin, director of advocacy at Disability Rights Montana and lead attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement. “This preliminary injunction is significant because, in the middle of this case, the Montana Attorney General issued a formal opinion disenfranchising all criminally committed patients at the state hospital using the very same arguments the Court has now rejected.”
Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s opinion, issued last month, stated that people convicted of a felony and placed at MSH are “as a practical matter, ‘serving a sentence for a felony in a penal institution’ even if they are primarily receiving medical treatment while they are at MSH.”
“We disagree with the judge’s order,” said Chase Scheuer, a spokesperson for Knudsen’s office. “While serving their sentence, convicted felons lose their right to vote and that doesn’t change if the felon is being treated for mental illness at the Montana State Hospital.”
The Montana State Hospital, located in Warm Springs, near Anaconda, provides psychiatric treatment to people with serious mental illness. Some have been committed to the hospital through a civil procedure, while others have been sent there for treatment as part of a criminal sentencing.
The plaintiff in this case was committed to MSH earlier this year, after being sentenced for a felony. He then attempted to register to vote in Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, where he lived before. The county elections administrator rejected his application because of his commitment.
The plaintiff sued, and he was joined by Disability Rights Montana, which argued many patients at MSH meet the legal requirements to vote but have been “systematically disenfranchised.”
The state has interpreted the constitutional provisions at issue here to mean that people convicted of felonies can vote when on parole, probation or deferred sentence, but not when they’re in a correctional facility or the state hospital.
Dayton’s order only applies to this specific person, but Disability Rights Montana said the larger issue for other patients has been presented for resolution later in this case.
"The fact we had to bring this case shows how the disability community’s most basic rights to be considered equal citizens are under attack," said David Carlson, executive director of Disability Rights Montana, in a statement. “Disability Rights Montana is here to help our community fight back.”
MTN filed a public information request to find out how many people could be affected by this case. According to data from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, the average daily number of patients at MSH was 245 in September. That includes 172 at the main hospital, 48 at the Forensic Unit in Galen and 25 at group homes.
