2020 Election: The vote’s in the mail.
GRANITE COUNTY – With absentee ballots ready to hit your doorstep in just over a month, it’s time to start getting a grip on what will be one heck of an interesting election cycle.
Governor Steve Bullock’s order gave counties the option of going to an all mail-in ballot for the General Election, just like the primary in June. The Granite County Commissioners approved a measure by County Clerk and Recorder Sarah Graham to have the all mail in ballot done out of concern over the pandemic 2-1. Commissioners Bill Slaughter and Scott Adler voted in favor while Chuck Hinkle voted against.
Absentee/Mail in Ballots will be mailed out
October 9, 2020
They are due back in the Elections Office
November 3. 2020 by 8 p.m.
Beginning October 9, ballots will be mailed to every registered voter in Granite County. If you are not registered you have until October 26 to do so. The next day late voter registration takes place, meaning you’ll have to go to the Granite County Elections Office to register in person.
Along with the selection of the President of the United States, numerous Montana issues and offices are on the ballot. To get a look at who is running and what measures are being decided on at the state and local level, go to https://ballotpedia.org/Sample_Ballot_Lookup.
If you want your ballot earlier than Oct. 9, you can pick one up in the county elections office from Oct. 2-8.
In an email exchange with Graham about this year’s election, she indicated that Montana residents can track their ballot’s arrival at her office via the website https://app.mt.gov/voterinfo/. Unlike some states that track the ballot’s travel from point to point to its final destination, this site will let you know if your ballot has reached Graham’s office after mailing it.
Once you receive your ballot and have made your selections, you must make sure to send it back in the proper envelopes to ensure it will be counted.
For information on what will be on your ballot in Granite County in the General Election follow these links to view the Ballot Measures and Individual Seat races.
Graham explained, “Once you have marked your ballot, sealed it in its secrecy envelope, then sealed the secrecy envelope in the SIGNED affirmation return envelope, it may be returned by mail or deposited into the drop-off box at the Courthouse in Philipsburg during regular business hours (we are no longer closed during the lunch hour) or on election day ONLY at the staffed drop-off box located at the Drummond Community Hall.
“(At) the Drummond drop-off, and ONLY drop-off, (there will be) NO in-person voting and all ballots must be in their signed affirmation envelope (and that service) will only be available on election day November 3, 2020 from 7am-8pm. Those ballots will then be transported by deputy to the Courthouse to be receipted in, verified and counted.”
