HELENA, Mont. — Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen released the results of a legislative veto poll on Friday.

The Secretary of State’s Office is tasked with polling legislators on bills vetoed by the governor when the legislature is not in session if the bill was approved by two-thirds of the members voting on the final vote on the bill. Once the Secretary of State’s Office receives the bill and the governor’s veto message, the polling process begins.

In this unusual instance, the Montana Courts mandated that the Secretary of State’s Office conduct a poll despite not receiving the bill. 

As required by Montana law, “if two-thirds or more of the members of each house vote to override the veto, the bill becomes law.”

With only 24 Montana Senators and 41 Montana Representatives voting for an override, the veto override failed.

Several legislators returned their ballot packets indicating their refusal to participate in this unprecedented veto polling procedure. Many included letters to the Secretary providing their reasoning.

Other legislators refused to sign for their ballot packet, and several others went unclaimed.

The results of the veto poll are available on the Secretary of State’s website.