Absentee ballot request forms headed to voters

Ballot request forms for the May primary election will begin landing in registered voters mailboxes this week.

In Boundary County, 2,497 voters have already submitted a request to the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office for an absentee ballot. For those voters who wish to drop off their ballots, a ballot box set up at the courthouse for voters who wish to cast their vote in person. The box will not be manned and it is also placed outside of the courthouse.

“My staff continues to answer questions and mail out requests,” Boundary County Clerk Glenda Poston said in an email. “There is a drop box outside of the courthouse where ballots can be placed, if the voter wishes too. But that is not necessary as all ballots have had the return postage added to them.”

Poston said in checking on the two previous primary elections in the county, she found that those election saw a 40 to 45 percent voter turnout. While about 34 percent of voters have requested a ballot, Poston said the county has only received 1,021 of those ballot.

“So please remember to return your voted ballot,” she added.

Poston reminded residents that registered voters can request a ballot until May 19 and they have until June 2 to return the ballots.

The Secretary of State’s Office sent more than 550,000 forms statewide. All Idahoans will vote in the May Primary Election from home to protect voters, election workers and community members from the coronavirus. Voters who want to participate in the upcoming election must request their ballot.

“We are still very busy receiving requests, processing ballots, and then verifying the returned ballots,” Poston said. “While some people would still like to see the polling sites opened up for May 19, this will not happen. We are still under the direction of Governor Little and Secretary Denney and they have instructed all 44 county clerks that there will be no polling sites open.”

Many county election offices from across the state have also sent out ballot request forms to registered voters in their counties over the last few weeks and implemented other voter outreach efforts.

As of May 1, more than 185,000 Idahoans had requested their ballots, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. In addition to almost 2,500 voters in Boundary County seeking an absentee ballot, 6,970 voters in Bonner County, 23,113 voters in Kootenai County, 1,661 voters in Benewah County and 1,134 voters in Shoshone County had requested an absentee ballot.

“It has been exciting to see so many Idahoans request their ballots,” said Tamie Eberhard, Shoshone County clerk. “The coronavirus has obviously changed how we will vote in this election. However, based off of the number of ballot requests we are seeing each day, Idahoans are not going to let this pandemic keep them from voting.”

Idahoans have until May 19 at 8 p.m. to request their ballot. Voters can either return the ballot request form that was mailed to them or go online to request their ballot at IdahoVotes.gov. Voters must indicate if they want a Republican, Democratic or nonpartisan ballot. If voters have questions about the ballot type or the election, they should contact their local elections office.

Voters should be patient once they request their ballot. Requests are being processed as quickly as possible to give voters plenty of time to return their ballot by the 8 p.m. June 2 deadline.

Ballots will be counted and election results will be released on June 2.