If you’ve ever wondered what happens to your ballot once you drop it in the mail, the Missoula Election Center invites you in for a tour on Vote Early Day this Saturday.

Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman has details.

“Missoula County has opted into vote early day, which is just an opportunity to provide members of the public with additional services,” said Seaman. “We understand that many voters work from nine to five on Monday through Friday and aren't available to make it into our office, so we'll be able to provide voters with all the services we would normally have during regular business hours starting this Saturday for Vote Early Day from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.”

Seaman said there may be problems for voters who have recently moved to Missoula County.

“One thing to note with this is that voters who were moving from one county to another, may run into an instance where we're unable to void that ballot from your previous county because that county may not be open on Saturday,” he said. “However, if you come in here we'll get you all taken care of as far as we can and provide you with that ballot on the next business day when the other counties open.”

Seaman emphasized the security of the mailed in ballots.

“Starting with the primary election, we held a series of public tours and more tours are going to kick off on Vote Early Day at noon, where voters can come in and see the process of their ballots being received, the signature verified, and the accounting process that we use to make sure that every vote is counted throughout the election,” he said. “That's the start of a series of different tours that will be coming up throughout the next few days. This formalizes that process and we host a tour through where anybody can come at any point in time just to see what we're doing here. Nothing in elections takes place behind a closed door.”

For those who may be nervous about whether their votes will be counted, Seaman had this to say.

“Unfortunately the Secretary of State's voter database doesn't report for a local election if your ballots been received,” he said. “You can use my voter page mt dot com to check where you're registered to vote. But what you may run into is that you can't see if your ballot has been accepted for this election. The easiest way to confirm that your ballots been accepted is to mail it with plenty of time, and USPS recommends seven days before the election, and then you can call our office at 258-4751 and we'll be able to pull up and confirm that your ballot has been received.”

The election office is located at 140 North Russell Street.

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