$143,000 to qualify: Montana independent’s path to the ballot
Independent congressional candidate needed 7,274 certified signatures before voters could see his name on the ballot
Independent congressional candidate Michael Eisenhauer says it cost his campaign $143,000 just to meet Montana’s signature requirement and qualify for the ballot.
Eisenhauer, an interventional cardiologist and 24-year Army veteran, is running in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District.
This is his first run for public office, but before he could begin competing for votes in the general election, he needed thousands of registered voters to sign a petition allowing him to appear on the ballot.
Montana requires independent candidates to submit signatures equal to at least 4% of the votes cast for the successful candidate for the same office in the previous general election. For Eisenhauer, that meant collecting at least 7,274 certified signatures.
His campaign submitted nearly 13,000.
“The struggle as an independent candidate in Montana is real,” Eisenhauer told Ballots Without Barriers. “Just to qualify for the ballot, I had to provide more than 7,274 verified signatures from registered and active voters in the state, in the district.”
Volunteers weren’t enough
Eisenhauer initially planned to gather the signatures with volunteers. He started the petition effort with approximately 40 to 50 people in January and February but said he quickly realized the campaign was unlikely to collect enough signatures that way.
He hired a professional petition-gathering company to help finish the job.
That decision came with a significant price tag.
Eisenhauer told Ballots Without Barriers that his campaign spent $143,000 on the petition-gathering process.
“That literally was the price of admission to participate in this election cycle in Montana as a congressional House District candidate,” he said.
The requirement applies differently to independent candidates than it does to candidates who qualify through Montana’s recognized political parties. Republican, Democratic and Libertarian candidates can qualify for the general election through the primary process rather than completing the independent petition requirement.
For Eisenhauer, that meant a substantial portion of his campaign resources went toward gaining access to the ballot before he could focus on competing in the general election.
Montana stands out among its neighbors
The size of Montana’s requirement becomes clearer when compared with surrounding states.
An independent congressional candidate in Idaho can qualify with 500 signatures. North Dakota requires 1,000 signatures for an independent congressional candidate, while Nebraska requires 2,000 for a U.S. House race.
Eisenhauer needed 7,274.
“It really doesn’t make sense why Montana would be so high at 7,274 for my district,” Eisenhauer said when comparing Montana with neighboring states during his interview with Ballots Without Barriers.
Montana’s requirement is not a fixed number. Because it is calculated using 4% of the votes cast for the successful candidate in the previous election for that office, the number of signatures required can change from one election to the next.
In 2026, an independent candidate in Montana’s 1st Congressional District needed 6,742 signatures. Eisenhauer needed 7,274 in the 2nd District. An independent candidate for U.S. Senate faced an even higher threshold of 13,327 signatures.
Eisenhauer said that even though Montana lawmakers reduced the statutory percentage used in the formula, the number of signatures he faced remained high because of the vote total in the previous congressional election.
Nearly 13,000 signatures went through verification
Collecting signatures was only part of the process. Election officials then had to determine which signatures could be counted toward Eisenhauer’s qualification.
County election administrators reviewed the petitions before the Montana Secretary of State determined whether the campaign had met the threshold. Thousands of the signatures Eisenhauer submitted were rejected during that process, but enough were verified for him to qualify.
Eisenhauer said both county election officials and the Secretary of State’s Office conducted reviews before his ballot access was approved.
The petition process later drew additional scrutiny when authorities investigated potentially fraudulent signatures collected by a subcontractor working for the petition company used by Eisenhauer’s campaign.
The investigation also involved signatures connected to independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar.
Law enforcement officials said neither campaign was suspected of wrongdoing, and the disputed signatures were not counted toward the totals used to qualify the candidates for the ballot.
Eisenhauer said his campaign agreed that approximately 700 questioned signatures should not be included. Even after those signatures were removed, he still had enough verified signatures to meet Montana’s requirement.
Qualifying still didn’t end the fight
After Eisenhauer was certified for the ballot, Democratic opponent Brian Miller filed a lawsuit challenging additional signatures connected to the petition operation.
Miller argued that additional signatures should be invalidated and sought relief that could have threatened Eisenhauer’s place on the November ballot.
Eisenhauer said the lawsuit created another expense for a campaign that had already spent heavily just to qualify. Although he was not named as a defendant, he had an attorney on retainer and said preparing for the potential consequences of the lawsuit cost his campaign several thousand dollars in legal fees.
The case never reached a decision on whether those additional signatures should be invalidated.
Miller ultimately dropped the lawsuit, saying his decision was based on timing rather than the merits of his allegations. The case was dismissed without prejudice, and Eisenhauer remained on the ballot.
The same office, very different requirements
Eisenhauer’s experience illustrates how much ballot qualification rules can vary from state to state.
An independent candidate seeking a seat in the U.S. House is running for the same federal office whether that candidate lives in Montana, Idaho, North Dakota or Nebraska. But the requirements to place that candidate’s name before voters are established by each state.
In Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, the threshold was 7,274 certified signatures in 2026. Eisenhauer says meeting it required nearly 13,000 collected signatures, professional petition gatherers and $143,000 in campaign spending before his place on the ballot was secure.
Across the border in Idaho, an independent congressional candidate faces a 500-signature requirement. North Dakota requires 1,000.
Those differences are part of a larger patchwork of ballot access laws across the United States that determine how independent and third-party candidates qualify for elections.
Voting Rights Foundation researches those laws to document the requirements candidates face and help voters understand how the path to the ballot changes depending on where a candidate runs.
Comments