The group gathering support in Montana to place a marriage-protection amendment on the state ballot in November said yesterday it has collected nearly twice the amount of signatures needed for the measure to go before the voters.
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State Rep. Jeff Laszloffy, author the Montana Marriage Protection Amendment, announced the petition-gathering process has collected 70,000 signatures. Just 41,000 are needed to place a ballot initiative on the ballot.
In addition, said a statement from the Montana Family Foundation, amendment proponents have fulfilled another requirement – collecting signatures from at least 10 percent of registered voters in at least 28 counties. The group says it has reached the 10 percent threshold in 51 counties, with four racking up the support of 40 percent of registered voters.
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Like many other similar amendments around the nation, this one would define marriage in the state as between one man and one woman.
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Laszloffy called the petition drive "the most successful signature-gathering effort in Montana's history," claiming more signatures were gathered than ever before, they were gathered in a shorter period of time, and no paid signature gatherers were used.
"This effort was as grass-roots as it gets," the legislator said.
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"It's too bad that we need to restate the obvious, that marriage is between a man and a woman, but if the obvious needs to be restated, I believe the voters will do it by an overwhelming majority in November."
