Prosecutors probe firm hired by independent U.S. Senate and House candidates, though neither campaign is suspected of wrongdoing
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Prosecutors in Cascade County are investigating potential signature-gathering fraud by at least one firm that worked for the independent campaigns of U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar and U.S. House candidate Michael Eisenhauer, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s Office.
The Cascade County Attorney’s Office and the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office are jointly conducting the investigation into potentially improper petition signature-gathering activity tied to the two campaigns. Officials said the probe remains active and that additional details cannot be released at this time without potentially compromising its integrity.
“Public confidence in the election process depends on both transparency and a careful, impartial investigation,” Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki said. “We are following the facts, both campaigns are cooperating fully, and neither campaign is suspected of wrongdoing. We will share more information as soon as we can do so without affecting the investigation.”
According to Racki, the questionable signatures were discovered by county election officials. Both the Eisenhauer and Bodnar campaigns instructed election staff to discard those signatures, and none were counted toward the totals that led to the independent candidates being certified for the general election ballot. Cascade County officials said any questionable signatures were excluded before the county finalized its count, and only verified signatures were counted toward each candidate’s ballot-qualification total.
The investigation became public Friday after Brian Miller, the Democratic nominee for Montana’s eastern congressional district, sent a letter to Racki asking that information about the probe be made public and criticizing the county attorney for not notifying other candidates in the race about the investigation.
Independent candidates for federal office in Montana must collect a minimum number of verified signatures to qualify for the general election ballot, a threshold based on votes cast for the winner of the prior election. Eisenhauer needed at least 7,724 signatures, while Bodnar needed at least 13,327. Both campaigns cleared those thresholds by the May deadline.
Campaign finance records show Eisenhauer’s campaign paid $2,500 on June 3 to a Billings law firm for a “retainer for signature fraud investigation.” The campaign’s first payment to a signature-gathering firm called Ballot Access Marketing LLC was registered in January; combined with additional payments in February and March, Eisenhauer’s campaign spent $100,000 on the firm’s services.
Bodnar’s campaign paid the same firm, Ballot Access Marketing, $125,000 on March 12. In May, the campaign also paid $77,445 to a firm called Groundswell Contact and $52,500 to another called Upcard for signature-gathering services.
Paying outside firms to collect ballot-qualification signatures has become common practice among campaigns.