by Ken Toole | Feb 6, 2026 | Republicans, Voting
After controversy about spending close to $200,000 of public funds sending campaign style post cards to Montana voters featuring a photo shopped picture of her standing next to Donald Trump, Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen is in hot water again.
This time Jacobsen is being questioned about sending confidential voter information to the United States Department of Justice. On February 4, The Montana Free Press reported that Jacobsen said that she had “fully complied” with the Department of Justice’s request for an unredacted complete file of Montana voters which contain confidential information. Jacobsen subsequently denied sending the information. Correspondence to the Montana Free Press from an attorney in Jacobsen’s office said, “Your below referenced article is filled with false information, deception, and dangerously inaccurate assumptions that are causing immediate damage. You specifically state in multiple places in the article that the above was turned over. Such was not. A public voter file is entirely different from a confidential, unredacted voter file.”
Wow. They seem pretty angry and very definitely say they did no such thing. Funny thing is that Jacobsen’s office then refused numerous attempts by the Montana Free Press to obtain further information. Well, of course they wouldn’t respond. . . none of our Republican statewide elected officials talk to Montana reporters, nor do they meet with voters. It’s a page from their political play book.
Here’s a link to the full story.
https://montanafreepress.org/2026/02/04/secretary-of-state-christi-jacobsen-complies-with-federal-demand-for-montana-voter-data/
Also check out Helena Lovick’s post on Jacobsen’s post card fiasco.
Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Pricey Partisan Postcard
by Helena Lovick | Feb 3, 2026 | Money, Republicans, Taxpayers, Voting
A couple of weeks ago, Montana’s Republican Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen sent out a mailer with a picture of herself standing next to a constipated-looking, photoshopped image of dTrump. I was an unlucky recipient of said postcard along with about 467,000 other Montana households.
$200,000 Price Tag for Taxpayers
The postcard bragged about how the Secretary of State office is using a program to verify that only U.S. citizens are voting. It has come to light, thanks to Democratic Representative Kelly Kortum (D-Bozeman), that it cost taxpayers around $200,000 dollars to mail that dumbassery.
Privacy Violating Voter Program
The program SoS Jacobsen was bragging about is the “SAVE tool” and comes “free” from the MAGA Administration. In an underwhelming rollout, the SAVE tool managed to flag 23 potential non-citizen voters in all of Montana. Wow…..23! That’s….not a lot. But remember, we must threaten you with the terrifying possibility that a couple non-citizens voted out of 785,000+ total Montana voters. That sounds terrifying.
As more icing on the cake, the privacy violating SAVE tool may also erroneously flag voters and disenfranchise eligible voters.
Partisan Shmartisan
Aside from its naked partisanship, the postcard clearly served a political purpose. But the Gianforte-appointed Commissioner of Political Practices, Chris Gallus, disagreed and found that the postcard did not serve a political purpose in a complaint dismissal.
In response to the complaint dismissal by the CoPP, Christi Jacobsen posted a Facebook post on January 21st saying, “The lyrics that come to mind are: “You’re mad, I’m back, big mad. He’s mad, she’s mad, big sad – Haha, don’t care, stay mad” – 6ix9ine.”
Aside from the complete detachment from professional norms and civility, the quoting of 6ix9ine was quite the choice. If you’re going to quote a person as a public official, wouldn’t you want to do some minimal vetting so you don’t accidently quote a criminal? 6ix9ine is a felon with multiple felonies, including use of a child in a sexual performance, racketeering, gun charges, and drug offenses. But I guess Republicans have become more and more comfortable with felons thanks to felon-in-chief dTrump.
Hey! What About Our Money?
There remain unanswered questions about the postcard costs ($200,000+!?) and if the SoS office has turned over voter records to the federal government.
These shady actions are unsurprising from SoS Jacobsen. She has a long history of ignoring norms and illegal actions. Some of her greatest hits also include:
