Bennett Pitches Dems in Glasgow

The sole Democrat running for Secretary of State, Bryce Bennett, held an intimate town hall with voters at the Milk River Activity Center on Nov. 17. The event, which was open to the public, was attended by a handful of local Democrats from Valley County and focused on Bennett's campaign for the secretary position.

Bennett stopped in on a series of eastern Montana stops including Glasgow, Wolf Point and Havre. "I'm doing the big eastern Montana swing," joked Bennett, before introducing himself to the group. Bennett, a fifth-generation Montanan, was born in Billings and grew up in Hysham. He joked that, like everyone in eastern Montana, his first job was fixing irrigation pipes for a neighbor and that he had to wear his winter coat under his Halloween costume.

On policy, Bennett jumped right in by saying he was running because, "I feel like over the last three years we have not had a Secretary of State who shares Montana's values." The current Secretary of State is Corey Stapleton who is seeking the Republican nomination for US Congress.

Bennett focused the beginning of his discussion on election accessibility and voter registration. He lamented the idea that some voters were forced to drive hundreds of miles to vote and that voter registration was becoming more difficult.

"I think the state is at its best when all Montanans have a chance to vote," said the candidate. He added that he had worked in the 2017 legislature to make voting more accessible and voter registration more available. One example he threw out was a bill he had worked to pass that made absentee voter registration permanent.

He explained that prior to the new system, absentee voters would receive a card in the mail notifying them that they would need to fill the card out and then return the card or they would be removed from the absentee voter list. Bennett described the loss of absentee voters each year saying, "We would hemorrhage hundreds of people off the mailing list."

Bennett also stressed the secretary's role on the land board and how he views the board's shift from Democrat controlled for decades to Republican controlled more recently.

"We have a board that is actively working to sell off our land to the highest bidder," said Bennett. He went on to say that, in his view, the board had worked to block and suppress public access for fishing, hunting, camping and so on. He vowed, "I will always make sure Montanans have access to Montana land."

The Secretary of State hopeful was also adamant that he wanted to make disclosure of political contributions more available to the public. As he put it he wanted elections, and elected officials, to be accountable to the people and not to "dark money." He said he wanted a system where, "every penny spent in Montana is accountable.

In response to a question about accountability and access, Bennett reiterated his goals for access more clearly. He stated that he would support legislation that would make voter registration automatic when someone went to get their driver's license or during other civic activities. He would seek to make voting polls more accessible and ensure poll places on Native American Reservations were made permanent in Montana law.

He said he would hope "To ensure satellite voting so no one is disenfranchised due to a lack of resources in their county."

On resources and access Bennett said he hoped to be case dependent on creating access. "I think a good system is one where we look at each county's situation," said Bennett before adding that population, size and budget would all factor into the equation when looking to assist with access and resources.

A key focus for Bennett is "dark money" in politics. "The most important thing we can do is overturn Citizens United," emphasized Bennett, referring to the US Supreme Court case that removed finite limits on spending for elections and led the way for the creation of super pacs, or "political action committees" that could receive and spend indefinite amounts of money on elections.

Bennett stressed its importance of removing unlimited contributions to elections by invoking the era of the Montana "Copper Kings," considered by many to be a corrupt time for politics in Montana due to high levels of monetary spending on candidates and elections in the state.

The candidate acknowledged that the Secretary of State race was going to be a low-priority topic of discussion over the coming years. Especially, when contrast with the governor's race, the US House, the Senate and, of course, the Presidential election, but he stressed his perceived impacts if people ignore the race.

"There are a lot of people who benefit if we forget about this race," said Bennett, before alluding to election security shortfalls, election suppression and special interest groups. "There are hackers, politicians and businesses that would love to keep pushing a voter suppression agenda in Montana. A lot of people want you to forget about this so they can put up barbed-wire fences to block public lands."