Powder River Examiner -

With a week left until Election Day, 350 out of 595 absentee ballots sent to voters in Powder River County had been returned, according to the Montana Secretary of State.

Powder River County is one of only 10 counties in the state to hold in-person voting this fall, with the other 46 conducting their elections through mail-in ballots only. As of Monday, 389,942 ballots had been returned statewide, out of 646,649 sent out. Montana had 741,783 registered voters as of Monday, which means 53% of Montana votes have already come in, a week before the election.

Only Powder River, Broadwater, Carbon, Fergus, Mineral, Petroleum, Powell, Stillwater, Treasure and Wibaux counties are conducting in-person voting this fall. Powder River County has 1,312 registered voters, so with the 350 votes that have come in via absentee ballots thus far, 27% of the county’s votes have already been cast.

Voters have until election day to register in Montana for in-person voting. Absentee ballots may be requested through November 2nd, and must be returned either by mail or in person by November 3rd at 8 PM.

The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has a “My Voter” Page on their website (www.sos.mt.gov), where voters may check if they are registered, to verify their registration address, to see if they are on the list to have a ballot mailed, check on the polling location, and to verify the status of their mailed ballot. For example, I (Billy Stuver) checked on my ballot, noting that it had been sent October 9th, accepted by the Clerk and Recorder on October 22nd when I hand delivered it to the office, and the ballot status has been accepted. My voice has been heard at the polls, make sure to vote so yours is heard as well.