Absentee ballots have been streaming into the Powder River County election office, and counties statewide as the General Election date looms. As of Monday night, October 28th, 370 ballots, or 57% had been received in Powder River County, out of 649 absentee ballots sent out. Absentee voters represent over half of the 1,209 registered voters in Powder River County. Meanwhile, statewide a total of 522,124 ballots had been sent out, and by Monday evening 284,327 ballots, or 54%, had been returned.
Powder River County Election Administrator Cynde Jo Gatlin is encouraging absentee voters to not hold on to their absentee ballot until election day and return to our office at their earliest convenience, whether via dropping off the ballot at the courthouse or through mail.
Absentee ballots need to be returned to the election office prior to election day so they can be scanned into Electmt, a statewide database that ensures ballots are properly accounted for. The ballots are then taken to appropriate precincts on election day for counting. If a voter waits until election day to return their ballot to the courthouse, that ballot must be recorded in the system and then shuttled to the polling location to be counted (if in a rural precinct). If the voter drops off their absentee ballot at the polling location on election day and their polling location is at one of the locations other than Broadus (at Biddle, Coalwood, or Ashland) the ballot would need to be shuttled to the courthouse to be recorded, and then shuttled back to the polling location for counting.
Gatlin also suggests any voter with questions regarding turning in their ballot to reach out to her office for further clarification.
Election Day is November 5th.
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