MT Election Day - Please Mr. Postman, Get the Ballot There on Time
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Billings, MT – This Election Day in Montana brings a very different voting routine for about 80 communities, and there apparently are plenty of last-minute questions about it. The towns are trying out all-mailed ballots. However, people who've been doing "get out the vote" calls are finding that some folks haven't mailed their ballots yet. The ballots must arrive today, so any that weren't mailed will have to be hand-delivered to a town's courthouse to count. Virginia Court, co-chair of the group Montana Conservation Voters, says she's talked to quite a few people who say they never received a ballot and/or aren't sure what it looked like…
"If they were sent a ballot, and didn't send it back in, they cannot vote; but if the record shows they were not sent a ballot, they can go down with their ID and re-register and vote."
Court says city elections are important because they help determine many local quality-of-life decisions that affect people in their own backyards. Her hope is that mail-in ballots will increase voter turnout, which typically is low for municipal elections.
"I think it's really exciting. You know, the one thing we want is more people voting all the time, and anything to increase voter participation is great."
Montana Conservation Voters is working with the Montana Secretary of State as well as local election offices to monitor how well the mailed-ballot system works. The group also is hosting a "Voter Rights Hotline" to help with last-minute questions about how to register and vote in Tuesday's election, at (406) 256-2318.
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