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Lewis & Clark County approves mail ballots for general election

Posted at 10:48 AM, Aug 13, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-13 12:48:53-04

HELENA — Lewis and Clark County voters will receive their ballots for the November election by mail.

The county commission voted unanimously Thursday to conduct the election as a mail ballot election.

Gov. Steve Bullock issued a directive last week, allowing counties to make that change in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

County leaders said switching to a mail election would reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in crowded polling places.

In October, ballots will be mailed out to all active registered voters in Lewis and Clark County – more than 41,000 at the most recent check.

The county will also give residents an option to vote in person from Oct. 2 through Election Day, though elections supervisor Audrey McCue said they have not yet decided on a location for that.

Gov. Bullock also authorized counties to switch to mail ballots for the June primary. All 56 counties, including Lewis and Clark, took that option.

The primary ended up seeing much higher turnout than previous years.