HELENA — The Montana Senate is having marathon floor sessions over the next few days as the transmittal deadline approaches.

Among the proposals that got initial approval Wednesday was Senate Bill 474 – on a 29-21 vote. The bill, from Republican Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, would make it easier for someone to claim a personal exemption to school vaccination requirements.

(Watch to hear from senators debating Wednesday's bills)

Emrich said his daughter had experienced a serious health issue after receiving a vaccination, but he couldn’t get approval for a medical exemption for her.

“People need the right to choose,” said Emrich on the floor of the Senate. “We can’t force everybody to get a vaccine. Most people want to get a vaccine; there's not that many people that don't. But we need to give them that option, that freedom to choose.”

Opponents said the current exemption process is working and warned, if more people opt out of vaccines, it will start to affect the state at large.

“The only reason that people in this country can decide not to get vaccines and that this feels like, you know, ‘This is a personal choice, I should be able to choose whether or not I do this,’ is because my kids are vaccinated,” said Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, who has worked in the public health field.

The Senate also endorsed SB 490 on a vote of 33-17. It would make significant changes to Montana’s late voter registration laws.

Currently, people can register and vote at county election offices until noon the Monday before an election and as long as polls are open on Election Day.

The bill — sponsored by Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka — would eliminate registration on Monday and close it at noon on Election Day, but allow people to register on the Saturday before the election.

Opponents said the change was going to make it harder to register, especially for young voters.

“One thing that I think is going to really suppress the vote is the stop-start — so you can register Saturday, Sunday, but you can't register Monday, you can register Tuesday only till noon,” said Senate Minority Leader Sen. Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade.

Supporters said it would relieve the burden that long same-day registration lines put on election workers, while working within a Montana Supreme Court ruling that blocked a bill to repeal same-day registration.

“We're trying to work around the court's decision, and make same-day registration available to people, to the very best of our ability, and still have an efficient, safe election,” said Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton.