The primary election set for June 2, will be a mail ballot election in Yellowstone County, in order to minimize as much social interaction as possible to mitigate contagion of the CORVID-19 virus, announced Elections Officer Brett Rutherford.
Governor Steve Bullock, exercising his emergency powers, announced a week ago that he would leave it up to each county about whether they wanted to conduct a mail ballot primary election.
Pulling off a mail ballot election won’t be any problem, Rutherford told County Commissioners on Monday. Yellowstone County is very accustomed to conducting mail ballot elections.
Rutherford said that the county commissioners could pass a resolution declaring the need for a mail ballot election or that Rutherford could declare it. Rutherford said that since the easiest route was for him to make the declaration, he has done so. If commissioners want to override that decision, they can pass a resolution to do so.
Mail ballots will be sent out May 8. Law requires that voters have a 30-day voting window.
Though the polls will not be open for the primary elections some polling sites may be open to allow voters to drop off ballots – but not all 14 will be open. Since some of the polls are at schools, which will be closed, there will be no problem in using them for polling places, Rutherford said.
The primary extra cost will be the need to reprint envelopes, said Rutherford. They must be re-printed because in elections mandated as mail ballot, voters do not have to pay for postage, and the envelopes will have to indicate that. However, the state will reimburse the county for postage.
