---
type: "Bill"
title: "Revise election laws related to preparation procedures for primary elections"
description: "Revise election laws related to preparation procedures for primary elections"
jurisdiction: "us/states/mt"
legislature: "Montana Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 498"
citation: "Montana SB 498 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wendy McKamey"]
version_count: 17
action_count: 35
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2024-11-16T19:59:54+00:00"
last_action: "2025-05-08T14:24:23+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8882c9cb-143a-4544-a8d1-991371e519a9"
source_url: "https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC1478?open_tab=sum"
source_hash: "ad98b624ce9cbe1b2266981789609c4d7208a4de7c1e32b32a257dc9ce72e7f6"
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 SB 498 (2025) — Revise election laws related to preparation procedures for primary elections

## Version chain

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

1. **LC1478.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=269393)
2. **SB0498_1(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=288794)
3. **SB0498_1(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=293546)
4. **SB0498_1(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=293727)
5. **SB0498_1(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=300070)
6. **SB0498_1(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309267)
7. **SB0498_1(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=309268)
8. **SB0498_1.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=287477)
9. **SB0498_X(1).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=316930)
10. **SB0498_X(2).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=320505)
11. **SB0498_X(3).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322011)
12. **SB0498_X(4).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322012)
13. **SB0498_X(5).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=322013)
14. **SB0498_X(6).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=324777)
15. **SB0498_X(7).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=326210)
16. **SB0498_X(8).pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=327531)
17. **SB0498_X.pdf** (committee substitute) — [source](https://api.legmt.gov/docs/v1/documents/getContent?documentId=310994)

## Votes

- Do Pass — **32–18** (pass) · upper
- do_pass — **6–3** (pass) · upper
- be_concurred_in — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Do Concur — **88–11** (pass) · lower
- Do Pass — **30–19** (pass) · upper
- Do Concur — **83–17** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Wendy McKamey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-11-16T19:59:54+00:00** (LC) Drafter Assigned
- **2024-12-19T20:51:28+00:00** (LC) Draft in Legal Review
- **2024-12-20T15:13:20+00:00** (LC) Draft in Edit
- **2024-12-23T20:40:39+00:00** (LC) Draft in Input/Proofing
- **2024-12-24T15:40:33+00:00** (LC) Draft in Final Drafter Review
- **2024-12-24T16:40:21+00:00** (LC) Draft in Assembly
- **2024-12-24T18:39:53+00:00** (LC) Draft Ready for Delivery
- **2025-02-24T15:36:32+00:00** (LC) Draft Delivered to Requester
- **2025-02-25T20:26:44+00:00** (S) Introduced
- **2025-02-26T20:27:22+00:00** (S) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-02-26T20:30:00+00:00** (S) Referred to Committee - (S) State Administration `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-01T17:52:46+00:00** (S) Hearing - (S) State Administration
- **2025-03-04T22:55:31+00:00** (S) Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed - (S) State Administration `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-05T15:59:00+00:00** (S) Committee Report--Bill Passed - (S) State Administration `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-06T20:00:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-03-06T22:46:00+00:00** (S) 2nd Reading Passed `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-03-07T00:30:00+00:00** (S) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-03-07T01:52:00+00:00** (S) 3rd Reading Passed `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-03-07T16:19:06+00:00** (S) Transmitted to House
- **2025-03-17T15:26:25+00:00** (H) Referred to Committee - (H) State Administration `referral-committee`
- **2025-03-17T19:15:00+00:00** (H) First Reading `reading-1`
- **2025-03-20T16:51:17+00:00** (H) Hearing - (H) State Administration
- **2025-03-28T16:51:33+00:00** (H) Committee Executive Action--Bill Concurred - (H) State Administration
- **2025-03-28T20:03:00+00:00** (H) Committee Report--Bill Concurred - (H) State Administration
- **2025-04-11T14:30:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T17:31:00+00:00** (H) 2nd Reading Concurred `reading-2, reading-2`
- **2025-04-11T21:01:00+00:00** (H) Scheduled for 3rd Reading `reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:59:00+00:00** (H) 3rd Reading Concurred `passage, reading-3`
- **2025-04-11T23:59:55+00:00** (S) Sent to Enrolling
- **2025-04-13T17:00:38+00:00** (S) Returned from Enrolling
- **2025-04-21T22:00:17+00:00** (S) Signed by President `passage`
- **2025-04-25T20:40:10+00:00** (H) Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2025-04-25T21:18:10+00:00** (S) Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-05T19:17:00+00:00** (S) Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-05-08T14:24:23+00:00** Chapter Number Assigned `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8882c9cb-143a-4544-a8d1-991371e519a9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Montana legislature records).