Absentee ballot deadline extended

BOISE — U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the state to give Idaho voters more time — until 8 p.m. Tuesday — to request an absentee ballot for the May primary election.

Winmill ruled in favor of Nicholas Jones, who sued after the state’s website went down multiple times as the deadline approached on May 19 to request absentee ballots. Friday night, Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, issued a press release saying the state would comply with the order and directed the state’s county clerks outlining the details of the extension

Resources are additionally available on county websites and ballot request forms can be dropped off at county elections offices.

Winmill was clear in that his order was not in any way to be construed as to extend the deadline for returning these additional ballots, Denney said. He told the county clerks to reinforce the importance of timely return by June 2, by 8 p.m. local time in order to be counted.

“It is likely that in order to meet this timeline, most voters utilizing this extension will find themselves having to physically deliver their ballot on June 2 rather than placing it in the mail,” he wrote in the letter.