- [Voiceover] Montana PBS "Equal Time," offering unedited time to candidates for Secretary of State.

In the past few years, Montana has seen an influx of new businesses.

Does state infrastructure need to change for business licensing?

- As a business owner myself, I believe the state business licenses should be on a voluntary basis and should be primarily handled at the local level, like city government.

As Secretary of State, I will ensure fair and equal services to those who require services from the Secretary of State's office, and my goal would be to make a more friendly and transparent atmosphere for those needing required services.

- There's a little bit of a misconception about the new businesses moving into the state.

We do need to update the infrastructure.

Our websites are badly out of date.

And putting new graphics and gifs on a website doesn't mean that it works any better.

But part of the issue with the new business licenses are so many of them are for people dodging taxes in California and Arizona, registering their, you know, $100,000, $200,000 RVs, their high-end luxury cars.

Those aren't really new businesses that bring anything to the economy of the state.

They don't bring new jobs.

We need to prioritize building services for Montana businesses that are based in this state and that will bring jobs to our economy.

- [Voiceover] Incumbent Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen, declined to participate in this election's Montana PBS "Equal Time" Program.

Montana PBS "Equal Time" was made possible by the Greater Montana Foundation.

All "Equal Time" segments are available online at montanapbs.org/equaltime.

(energetic music)