Is your mailbox singing a patriotic tune this week?
It should be.
By Saturday, every registered voter in Missoula should have received their ballot.
As with anything new, Missoula's first-ever mail-in citywide ballot is confusing some folks. Thus our efforts here at the Missoulian, on our news and opinion pages, to answer as many questions as possible about the election.
The city's intent is a good one: to increase voter turnout for a pair of elections that typically have minimal turnout - between 8 percent and 15 percent.
In a smaller Missoula school election held by mail-in ballot seven years ago, voter participation was 56 percent. So there's a good chance this effort will be similarly successful.
So what's confusing folks? We'll skip the questions and go straight to the answers:
- If you are a registered voter and do not receive a ballot in the mail by Saturday, call the elections office on Monday. The number: 258-4751.
- The ballot you receive in the mail is the one you need to mark and return. There will be no voting at traditional polling places for this fall's city elections. Your mail-in ballot is THE ballot.
- The ballots delivered this week are for the primary election. You should vote even if your ward has just two candidates.
While both of those candidates could advance to the general election, a write-in candidate could also win.
- Your ballot must be returned to the elections office by mail or in person no later than 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11.
- Sept. 11 postmarks will not count. The ballot has to be in the hands of election workers on the 11th.
- A mailed ballot requires a 41-cent stamp. The address: Missoula County Elections Office, 200 W. Broadway, Missoula, MT 59802-4292.
- A ballot returned in person goes to the elections office, 200 W. Broadway, in the Missoula County Courthouse. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
- On Election Day only, voters can take their ballots to a number of other drop-off locations that will be staffed by election workers from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Those one-day collection points will be at these schools: Rattlesnake, Paxson, Russell, Hellgate Elementary and Cold Springs.
n AutoMark machines will be available for people who need help marking their ballots.
An AutoMark will be available at the Missoula County Courthouse through Sept. 11, and at the drop-off sites on Election Day.
n You'll receive a second ballot, also in the mail, for the November election.
Now all you have to do is mark your votes. And we'll help you with that as well.
Beginning Saturday, the Missoulian will publish Q&As with each of the candidates for Missoula City Council, one or two a day, until we've introduced you to all 17. We'll also post them online, in the election section of Missoulian.com.
Pretty soon, you'll be humming a patriotic tune.
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