EDRIElection Dispute Resolution Index

§ 13-36-101 enumerates standing — any elector with the right to vote for the office may contest a nomination or election — together with the grounds of contest (material law violation, candidate ineligibility, illegal or fraudulently counted votes).

“An elector may contest the right of any person to any nomination or election to public office for which the elector has the right to vote”

§ 13-36-103 ('Court Having Jurisdiction of Proceedings') and § 13-36-102 specify the venue for an election contest — application is made to the district court in the county where the contest is to be had.

§ 13-36-102 sets the filing deadline — a contest must be commenced within five days of the candidate's certification, by written notice to the contestee and application to the district court.

“Five days or less after a candidate has been certified as nominated, a person wishing to contest the nomination to any public office shall give notice in writing”

§ 13-36-202 codifies pleading and evidence rules for contests grounded on illegal votes — including that testimony of illegal votes is not received unless the party gives advance notice — § 13-36-207 governs the production of evidence at the hearing, and § 13-36-211 sets the standard for setting aside a result. Standard plus evidentiary rules; level 2.

“When the reception of illegal votes is alleged as a cause of contest, it is sufficient to state generally”

§ 13-16-412 codifies the recount procedure — the election administrator delivers the sealed ballot packages to the county recount board, which opens them and manually counts the votes on each ballot onto prepared tally sheets.

“the board shall count the votes on each ballot manually”

§ 13-16-201 enumerates the recount triggers — a recount must be conducted on a verified petition where the margin does not exceed 1/4 of 1% (or 10 votes for local offices); § 13-16-211 allows a bonded recount up to a 1/2 of 1% margin.

“is defeated by a margin not exceeding 1/4 of 1% of the total votes cast or by a margin not exceeding 10 votes”

§ 13-16-307 allocates recount cost by outcome — the applicant deposits the estimated cost, which is returned if the recount shows the applicant was elected (or reverses a ballot issue) and forfeited toward the excess cost if it does not; § 13-16-205 makes a margin-triggered recount a county charge.

“If the recount shows that an applicant has been elected to office, the deposit of the applicant must be returned to the applicant.”

§ 13-16-304 has the district court retain jurisdiction of a recount case 'until the cause is finally determined and the final count is made by the county recount board', and § 13-16-416 has the recount board enter the corrected result; the surfaced section addresses jurisdiction rather than squarely codifying the binding force of a recount finding.

Montana's results become official through the canvassing boards — § 13-15-405 has the county board declare and certify results, and the board of state canvassers must meet within 27 days of the election (§ 13-15-502); the surfaced county-certification section does not itself state a fixed day-count deadline.

No section in the FTS-surfaced candidates satisfies this criterion. Best signal: Montana conducts recounts and election contests after the official canvass — a recount petition is filed 'within 5 days after the official canvass' (§ 13-16-201) and a contest within five days of certification (§ 13-36-102) — so there is no mechanism to stay certification while a recount or contest is pending.