In this case, the Montana Democratic Party and two named electors seek a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, and a declaratory judgment that recent actions by operatives of the Montana Republican Party violate state and federal law. The problem here is whether the actions of Defendants—the Executive Director and Legislative Director of the Montana Republican Party—in filing
en masse challenges to the right to vote of 6,000 Montana citizens who are registered voters, and Secretary of State Brad Johnson's response to these challenges, are violations of federal law to which this Court is empowered to provide a remedy. The relief sought is pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act, the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, and
42 U.S.C. §§ 1983,
1985, and
1971. The National Voter Registration Act, enacted by a Congress composed of Republicans and Democrats, is intended to “increase the number of eligible citizens who register to vote in elections for federal office” and to ensure that states may “enhance[ ] the participation of eligible citizens as voters.”
42 U.S.C. § 1973gg(b)(1)-(2). Ostensibly justified by their concern for the integrity of the electoral system, the individual defendants
have apparently filed false affidavits with the express intent to disenfranchise voters in counties that have historically tipped toward the Democratic party.