Legislators say they've seen a governor's veto overridden before, but for some, this is the first time they've seen it done by mail.
They voted to override House Bill 693, which was official on Tuesday.
The bill deals with the public's right to know and originally passed, 94-4, in the House and 48-2 in the Senate.
Two-thirds of each chamber are needed to override the veto of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte.
The vote was two votes over the threshold in the House, 68-17 and three votes in the Senate, 37-9.
"That's a 30 percent shift, almost all of it some of my fellow Republicans," said Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel.
Molnar says he's disappointed with that shift, partly because of the responsibility to uphold the Montana Constitution.
In the Governor’s veto letter, he stated ”House Bill 693 encourages trial lawyers with deep pockets to abuse the Right To Know, giving them an unfair advantage.”
"Senate Bill 693 was a very simple bill," Molnar said. "It supported Article 2, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution, which says that you the people have a right to look at any public documents held by government."
Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, voted for the bill originally but did not vote to override.
He says that he would have voted to override after receiving a note from the bill's sponsor, Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings.
"Well, I didn't want the public's right to know to outweigh the individual's right to privacy, which is what I understood was part of the angst that the governor's staff had that private medical records and those kinds of things," Esp said. "The representative assures shares me in his letter that that's not the case."
All votes against came from Republicans, with every Democrat legislator voting for an override.
Sen. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, had intended to vote to override, but his ballot did not arrive in time.
He served four terms in the House, starting in 2013, and is in his first term as a senator.
"We've overturned in session," Lenz said about a veto. "I've never seen one being overriden by mail. It's not typical."
Molnar served in the House for four terms in the 1990s and is finishing up his first term as a Senator.
He also says this is the first time he's seen a veto override by mail-in vote.
"It's historic to see this amount of shift based on partisanship," Molnar said. "It's historic to see the constitution so plainly ignored. It's historic to see the governor get overridden. The whole thing is our experiment in democracy is ongoing and it's going in the right direction."
