Montana voters will not have to provide their year of birth on mail-in ballot security envelopes after a court decision overturned the requirement.

The ruling came as county election officers prepared to send ballots for the November general election. Date boxes remain on the envelopes, but voters are not currently required to enter birth-year information. Election officials say information written in the boxes will not cause a ballot to be excluded, and officials are not checking those entries.

Bradley Seaman said the decision and other court challenges will not change the voting process this year. “You’re going to vote the same way you’re used to,” Seaman said.

Election officials continue to advise voters to include birthdate information as a precaution. “So right now, you’re not required to put your year of birth, but we’re going with a better safe than sorry approach,” Seaman said.

As many as 6,500 ballots were rejected statewide after the date requirement was added. Removing that potential reason for rejection is expected to reduce the number of rejected ballots.

Voters whose ballots are rejected are contacted by their elections office. Voter registration information and county elections office contact details are available through VoteMT.Gov.