Polls open, late registration continues
<p>A large sign at the base of the stairs of the new South Campus Building announced that voter registration and absentee voting would close at noon on Monday, Nov. 7. People who got in line before noon were allowed to complete registration, but at noon people had to be turned away.</p>
<p>A line doubled down the hallway to the Flathead County Election Office on Monday, Nov. 7, in Kalispell.</p>
A minute past noon on Monday, an election volunteer walked down the steps of the Flathead County Election Department with a sign announcing registration had closed for the day. Behind him, a line of people waiting to register led up the stairs and double backed, snaking along the department’s hallway.
“Those already in line are still good to go, but everyone else, you’ll have to come back tomorrow,” said Adam Mills, a deputy with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.
In Montana, people can register to vote up until the day of the election. Today, late registration will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and polling places will be open during the same time.
A list of local polling places and legislative district maps are at flathead.mt.gov/election.
Mills, who had been at the department as a volunteer on Monday since 8 a.m., said lines didn’t get to “too bad” until 11 that morning. He said it’s hard to tell what lines will look like today.
In past years, Election Day lines have stretched long enough to create a three-hour wait.
“We’ll be here for a while letting those who were in line by noon finish the process,” Mills said after he sent away several people who were too late to join the registration lines for the day.
The county election department is now located on the second floor of the South Campus Building on 11th Street West in Kalispell.
As of Monday afternoon, 66,438 people had registered to vote in Flathead County, according to the Office of the Montana Secretary of State.
Out of the 27,486 county voters who had registered to receive their ballot in the mail, 21,744 residents had returned their absentee ballots.
Statewide, 684,636 Montanans were registered to vote and 345,854 people were set to receive their ballot in the mail. By Monday afternoon, 279,151 absentee ballots had be returned to be counted toward the election.
As of November, 34 states and the District of Columbia permitted no-excuse early voting. Another three states utilized all-mail voting systems, eliminating the need for early voting.
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission found in a 2012 Election Day Survey that about 83.5 percent of all requested domestic mail ballots are returned by absentee voters.
Monday afternoon, a woman in line to register at the election department held a child in one arm and pushed another in a stroller in front of her. She said had waited in line for about an hour, “and, from what I’ve seen, I have another half-hour to go at least. But it’s just part of it.”
For more information, visit flathead.mt.gov/election/ or sos.mt.gov/Elections/ or call 406-758-5535.
Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.