Municipal Primary Election Ballots to be Mailed out on Wednesday

Ballots for the municipal primary election will be mailed out on Wednesday, Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman told KGVO news on Tuesday morning.

“Our municipal primary election will be coming up on September 14, and we'll be mailing out just over 47,000 ballots to Missoula County voters,” said Seaman. “Those will be mailing out tomorrow, so voters should get those in the mailbox starting on Thursday or Friday. Then our primary election will be held on Tuesday, September 14. There are three main races on the ballot. We have our mayor, we have our Ward One and our Ward Six, and the top two vote getters from each of those races will continue on to the November election, which is the general election for the city of Missoula.

Thanks to the Montana Legislature, Seaman said same-day voter registration will not be available on September 14.

“The biggest change for this election is that we've eliminated same day Election Day voter registration,” he said. “That was a change with the Montana State Legislature so voters won’t be able to register and get a ballot on Election Day. And there'll be very limited opportunities for what actions they could take on Election Day.”

For those who are new to Missoula or have never registered to vote, Seaman had specific information to enable them to participate in the primary.

“In Montana, the 29 days before the election, you are required to come in person to register to vote, where we'll get you a ballot for this upcoming election,” he said. “So if you haven't registered yet, you'll want to come in person to 140 North Russell. We're open during normal business hours until Election Day. And then we would need people in by noon Monday, September 13^th to be able to register and vote due to the new changes in law. On Election Day, September 14, you will not be able to come in and register to vote and receive a ballot.”

After protests were filed over the November 2020 general election, Seaman wanted to emphasize the many ways the voting process can be observed.

“All of our processes are open to public observations,” he said. “And because we're an open book with Missoula County elections, you can come and see any activity in taking and formalizing that a little bit by making sure to invite media, legislators, lawmakers and local elected officials to come and see these processes. Every election we go through, we do a canvass where we make sure that all of the ballots cast are accounted for. None of the ballots were missing or counted more than once, and we wanted to make sure that people saw this process because the more familiar they are with this process, the more confident they're going to be in the elections that we run for Missoula County.”

To get more information about your personal voting status, visit here.