MISSOULA — The clock is ticking down to Election Day on November 5.
Ballots have already gone out to voters in Missoula County and the deadline for returning mail-in ballots is quickly approaching.
Some people could still have some last-minute questions about ballots and voting. Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman says getting an early start on voting is best.
“If you are a vote by mail or an absentee voter, you should have your ballot. The best thing to do is check my voterpagemt.com that's going to be the Secretary of State's website. It's going to let you know if you're registered, where you're registered, where your ballot was sent, if you're a mail ballot voter, or where your polling place is, if you vote at the polls on Election Day,” Seaman said.
Eighty-five percent of Missoula County votes by mail, and ballots are already being received. But if you live outside of Missoula, there will be satellite offices available.
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“If you go to my voterpagemt.com, and something's not right, it's important to know we're in late registration. So, different states have different registration rules. Late registration means that in Montana, if you want to change your information, you need to come in person to the elections office here, and so we're going to really help with that," Seaman said.
"We're doing a series of satellite office events...we're really covering as much as we can so that during this period where you need to come in person, you can take care of anything you would need out at one of those voter services events,” he continued.
Several campaign text messages are being sent saying that you aren’t registered to vote. Seaman says there is an easy way to check and fix this.
“If you're getting a text that seems funky, if you're getting a mailer in the mail, check my voterpagemt.com first to make sure you're up to date. If everything looks right, you can always call our office to confirm, but that's going to be the way you can check your own to make sure that you're up to date. The other thing is, is that if you check that and you see that, oh, I moved to the next department over, ballots aren't forwardable,” Seaman said.
If you receive a postcard in your mail regarding your ballot, it’s important to act.
“We've gotten back just under 2,000 ballots from Missoula County voters. We're sending out a postcard to them to let them know that we mailed your ballot to this address, but it was returned as undeliverable by the post office," Seaman told MTN. "You can call our office to help get that ballot rerouted. It is such a quick and easy process, all of our team here can help with that. So now is that chance to check and see, hey, did your ballot get delivered to you? And if not, we can help make sure that we get that information updated and make sure everybody gets a chance to vote."
If you have a question about your signature, it isn’t on the website for safety reasons, but you can reach out to the Missoula County Elections Office if you have further questions.
“You can get in touch with our office, and we can help confirm that information. Now, if a signature doesn't match, that's not the end. So, if you sign it and it's not the signature that we have on file, we're going to reach out to you and let you know, hey, this signature didn't match what's on file. We want to work to help get this updated,” Seaman said.
With 15% of Missoula County's population voting in person on Election Day, several options will be available besides the Election Center.
“There's going to be 20 different polling locations open in Missoula County, and we have same day voter registration available here," Seaman noted. "On Election Day, we're going to have a really long wait time here due to the amount of time it takes voters to vote that ballot, we expect to see upwards of a three-hour wait time. So, everybody who's in line is going to be able to be helped."
"But if you check now, we're going to be able to give you the best service that we can. We're going to make sure that we've got tons of people in here, voting stations in here, and we're working to help get people registered on Election Day,” Seaman added.
Each polling location will be open early to up until the deadline for ballots.
“Every poll in Missoula is open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. so if you're a polling place, voter, you just got a mailer from us that says we've got you set up as a polling place. Those voters need to vote by 8 p.m. If you're in line, you'll be able to vote. We don't expect long lines at the polling places, but we do expect a longer line here at the election center," Seaman said.
"Then absentee voters; anybody who has a ballot still on election day, the US Postal Service has been working hard to help update everybody's ballots, get them out to the voters and make sure that we're processing them all through USPS recommends you mail your ballot seven days ahead of the election,” Seaman continued.
Even if you have a mail-in ballot but miss the October 29, 2024, deadline to get it in the mail, you have several options for getting it in.
“We have extended hours here, so you can come in here until six o'clock. We'll be open on that Saturday before the election. We also have a 24-hour ballot drop box." Seaman explained. "Because this is a polling place election we're able to have a ballot drop box. It's a secure drop box outside our location that you can use to drop it off at any time. Then every polling place can accept an absentee ballot on election day."
