---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise election laws related to the counting of votes"
description: "Revise election laws related to the counting of votes"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 196"
citation: "Montana HB 196 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections (see also: Ballot Issues)", "Local Government (see also: City Subjects; County Subjects)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lyn Hellegaard"]
version_count: 14
action_count: 49
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2022-12-01T16:40:03+00:00"
last_action: "2023-05-19T19:57:56+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6c0b79c9-e14b-45ae-9768-80efd7f02326"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/bill/20231/LC1942"
source_hash: "dbb29e23443e71f09b0dcaabacfefd8c69eb39f86a6e523ca887433b17d8346b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-mt"]
---

# Montana HB 196 (2023) — Revise election laws related to the counting of votes

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB0196.001.001_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4464)
2. **HB0196.001.002_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4458)
3. **HB0196.001.003_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4462)
4. **HB0196.001.004_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4463)
5. **HB0196.002.002_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4465)
6. **HB0196.002.003_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4459)
7. **HB0196.002.004_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4466)
8. **HB0196.002.005_Amendments-in-Context_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4467)
9. **HB0196.002.005_combo_final-condensed.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4461)
10. **HB0196.002.005_combo_final-full.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4460)
11. **HB0196_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4471)
12. **HB0196_2.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4469)
13. **HB0196_3.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4468)
14. **HB0196_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=4470)

## Votes

- (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred as Amended — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- (H) 2nd Reading Passed — **65–33** (pass) · lower
- (H) 3rd Reading Passed as Amended by Senate — **71–28** (pass) · lower
- (S) 2nd Reading Concurred — **49–1** (pass) · upper
- (H) 3rd Reading Passed — **65–33** (pass) · lower
- (S) 3rd Reading Concurred — **49–1** (pass) · upper
- (H) 2nd Reading Senate Amendments Concurred — **99–0** (pass) · lower
- (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended — **12–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lyn Hellegaard — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-05-19T19:57:56+00:00** Chapter Number Assigned `became-law`
- **2023-05-18T22:26:02+00:00** (H) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-08T16:20:00+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-05-04T23:00:00+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2023-05-04T20:00:00+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2023-05-01T23:04:20+00:00** (C) Printed - Enrolled Version Available `enrolled`
- **2023-05-01T23:04:19+00:00** (H) Returned from Enrolling
- **2023-04-26T21:15:54+00:00** (H) Sent to Enrolling
- **2023-04-26T19:37:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed as Amended by Senate `passage, passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-04-26T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-24T19:46:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Senate Amendments Concurred `amendment-amendment, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-24T19:00:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-04-19T02:04:00+00:00** (S) Returned to House with Amendments
- **2023-04-18T21:57:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-04-18T19:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2023-04-18T01:36:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-04-17T22:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2023-04-17T18:40:00+00:00** (C) Printed - New Version Available
- **2023-04-15T03:07:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Concurred as Amended
- **2023-04-14T21:00:00+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred as Amended
- **2023-03-17T21:00:00+00:00** (S) Hearing
- **2023-03-13T18:41:53+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-02-09T20:23:00+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-02-08T23:10:15+00:00** (H) Transmitted to Senate
- **2023-02-08T22:20:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2023-02-07T20:39:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2023-02-02T22:33:23+00:00** (C) Printed - New Version Available
- **2023-02-02T20:12:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Passed as Amended `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-01T18:36:17+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended `committee-passage`
- **2023-01-20T17:25:18+00:00** (C) Amendments Available
- **2023-01-17T16:00:00+00:00** (H) Hearing
- **2023-01-09T21:01:56+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2023-01-09T18:19:42+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-06T02:42:00+00:00** (C) Introduced Bill Text Available Electronically
- **2023-01-06T02:41:37+00:00** (H) Introduced
- **2023-01-04T17:44:38+00:00** (C) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2022-12-29T18:29:07+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2022-12-28T22:42:01+00:00** (C) Executive Director Final Review
- **2022-12-28T22:41:54+00:00** (C) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2022-12-28T22:11:45+00:00** (C) Draft in Assembly
- **2022-12-28T21:51:18+00:00** (C) Executive Director Review
- **2022-12-28T20:53:42+00:00** (C) Bill Draft Text Available Electronically
- **2022-12-28T20:53:41+00:00** (C) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2022-12-28T02:54:24+00:00** (C) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2022-12-27T20:13:56+00:00** (C) Draft to Drafter - Edit Review
- **2022-12-27T17:39:39+00:00** (C) Draft in Edit
- **2022-12-26T19:06:08+00:00** (C) Draft in Legal Review
- **2022-12-23T00:12:33+00:00** (C) Draft to Requester for Review
- **2022-12-01T16:40:03+00:00** (C) Draft Request Received `receipt`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6c0b79c9-e14b-45ae-9768-80efd7f02326`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).