Missoula County Has Big Plans For Annual Voter Registration Day
The annual Voter Registration Day is Tuesday, September 26, and Missoula County election officials are preparing lots of informational activities to get residents involved in the voting process.
Missoula County Elections Administrator Rebecca Connors said the idea is to build awareness about the elections process, and to help new residents register to vote for the upcoming municipal election.
"We do have an off-year election, and it's important to keep your voter registration up to date," Connors said. "We'll be doing something a little different than previous years. We're offering election education workshops at the Fairgrounds at 10:00 a.m. and at 2:00 p.m. and they'll each be about an hour and a half. People can come and learn the ins and outs of voting, what rejected ballots are, how we handle those ballots and how we maintain our voter lists in Missoula. We're hoping lots of people come and ask lots of questions."
Connors encourages new residents or those who have never registered to vote to do so quickly, as there are time deadlines for registration.
"The deadline to register for the municipal election is October 10th," she said. "There's a 30 day deadline to register before an election. The mail-in ballots will go out on Wednesday, October 18th and must be returned by election day, November 7th at 8:00 p.m.
Asked jokingly if Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton would be welcome at one of the workshops, Connors said laughingly that he absolutely has an open invitation to attend. Connors and Stapleton have had a running feud over the issue of voter fraud in Missoula County.