Missoula voters urged to check mail ballots before June 2 primary

MISSOULA, Montana — Missoula County election office said voters using mail ballots should review them carefully before the June 2 primary as Memorial Day weekend approached.

The office said voters should not wait until election day to address problems with a ballot or voter registration. They also said people using mail ballots should follow return instructions and watch deadlines closely.

Bradley Seaman, Missoula County elections administrator, said mail delivery times could vary. He said voters should use USPS one week before the election and that the elections office planned extended hours until 6 p.m. and Saturday hours to help voters.

“It’s really going to be dependent. What’s your mail service like? And we always want to stick with USPS is dedicated one week ahead of the election. Next week we’ll have extended hours until 6 p.m.. So if you want to come here, we’re open a little bit after work to help make sure that you can come through open tended to on Saturday so we can help serve voters a little bit there as well,” said Bradley Seaman.

Seaman said the elections office could become busier as election day neared. He said voters who needed help with a ballot or registration should contact the Missoula County Elections Office or visit the voter registration portal.

He said voters should also check the ballot envelope, including the required information election officials use to verify a ballot. Seaman said Missoula County had seen more ballot rejections in recent elections when that information was missing or did not match records.

“If that signature or that date of birth don’t match, your ballot will be rejected. Now, we’re on our third election with this new law and we have had an increase in our rejection rates. We had over a thousand ballots rejected in the municipal election. We just went through a county wide school election where we had over 600 ballots rejected,” said Bradley Seaman.