Waiting until the last minute? Here's how to vote on Election Day

While more than 60 percent of Lincoln County’s active voters have already submitted their ballots, there is still time to register and cast your vote.

As of last Friday, officials had received 8,570 of the 12,854 ballots issued to active voters in the county, according to Chris Nelson, election administrator.

“We’re really encouraging and trying to get the word out to people that they can register on Election Day and still vote,” Nelson said.

For residents who still need to register on Nov. 3, Nelson said they could receive their ballots after appearing in-person for late registration at the election office in the Lincoln County Courthouse or the North County Annex in Eureka. Both offices will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Nelson said it is especially important for voters who are new to the county to come in as early as possible for registration. If a resident is issued a ballot in another part of the state, officials must void it before they can pull the voter’s profile into the county’s system and reissue them a valid ballot.

In addition to the courthouse and annex offices, voters looking to cast their ballots can go to drop off sites at the Law Enforcement Center in Eureka, Troy Dispatch, the Upper Yaak Fire Building, the Trego-Fortine-Stryker Fire Building or the Fisher River Valley Fire Hall. These locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Drop off locations differ from traditional polling stations in that election officials there cannot issue ballots or register voters. Voters who have lost or made a mistake on their ballot must go to the courthouse or the annex satellite office to have it replaced.

While the county election plan allows residents to cast their votes by mail, Nelson said residents should not put their ballots in the post on Election Day.

“Postmarks do not count. [Ballots have] to be delivered to the courthouse or one of the designated drop areas on Election Day,” he said.

Voters must cast their ballots by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.

Overall, Nelson said he was pleased with how the mail-in voting plan had functioned during the general election. When officials sent out ballots by mail in the June primary, the county had received over a dozen totes filled with undelivered ballots. Leading up to the November election, officials have only received three such boxes.

“They’re not even full and we have them alphabetized,” Nelson said.

As officials receive undelivered ballots, Nelson said they contacted voters directly by phone. In most instances, ballots go undelivered because residents have failed to update their addresses. While some voters assume their ballots will be forwarded to their new addresses, state law forbids it.

Each mailer containing a ballot has the voter’s name and a unique identification number. When officials receive a ballot, Nelson said they use scanners to validate the number. Then they compare the voter’s signatures against ones they have on file from previous elections.

If his staff has a question about a signature, Nelson said they contact the voter directly.

Once they process a batch of 25 ballots, election officials print a report from the state’s election management and voter registration system which is sealed with the ballots. While Nelson said a batch could be sealed before it was receipted, election judges would not accept a single ballot until the batch it came from was validated.

“We do checks and balances and that’s why we have election judges come in and check,” he said.

As the election draws to a close, Nelson thanked the county election staff and election judges for their dedication.

“I’m truly blessed to live in this county, there are some amazing people here,” he said.