Clerk: More than 800 absentee ballots have already been received

By: 
Nathan Oster

After months of campaigning, it’s finally time to find out what the voters think.

While there are fewer contested races at the local and state levels, Tuesday’s general election is expected to come close to matching or surpass the voter turnout of the past two presidential elections.

In the 2020 general election, which pit then President Trump against Democratic challenger Joe Biden, there were 5,784 votes cast across Big High County’s 13 precincts.

That total represented an increase of about 10% compared to the general election of 2016, when 4,218 votes were cast in an election that saw Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

In Tuesday’s election, the county’s polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.   You may register and vote at your polling place on Election Day, but to do so, you will need show an acceptable form of identification.

As for the ballots themselves, in addition to the presidential race voters will be asked to choose candidates for the U.S. Senate seat now held by John Barrasso and the U.S. House seat now held by Harriet Hageman.

But at the state and county levels, there are far fewer choices.

Bruce Jolley, a Republican, is running unopposed for reelection to the Big Horn County Commission.

On the legislative side, Sen. Ed Cooper (District 20), Rep. Dalton Banks (District 26) and Rep. Martha Lawley (District 27) are Republicans running for re-election with no Democratic opposition.

The only seat in the state legislature that is being contested is the one in House District 28, where it’s a matchup of incumbent Republican John Winter and Democrat Larry Alwin.

Information about the candidates vying for school boards, town councils, the hospital board and the senior citizen’s service district board can be found sprinkled throughout this issue.

The ballot that voters are handed on Tuesday will also include races for fire and cemetery boards, but in those, the number of seats needing to be filled is either equal to or greater than the number of declared candidates.

Absentee voting

As was the case in 2020, many voters appear to have chosen the convenience of absentee voting over the prospect of waiting in line on Election Day.

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, 845 of the 1,104 absentee ballots that were issued (83%) had already been returned to the Big Horn County Clerk’s office.

Expectations

Big Horn County Clerk Lori Smallwood said most of the county’s election judges opted to return this year. Those who didn’t, either due to other commitments or age were replaced by new people who either expressed an interest on their registration form or declared their willingness to serve while visiting the clerk’s office.

As for what to expect on Election Day, Smallwood said, “All the security we use really hasn’t changed all that much from previous years so while it all adds additional tasks and record keeping our schedules at the polls seem to run about the same.   

“I really don’t expect we will have all election night materials back from the polls before 10 p.m. so I would say our results will be out about the same time as they were in August.     

“We will post the unofficial results reports on the website immediately following their submission to the Secretary of State just as we did during the primary.”

Alexander race

The race for a pair of four-year terms on the Fire Protection District No. 4 board of directors has been impacted by the death of one of the three candidates.  Because his death occurred after the start of absentee voting, Clifford Graham Alexander’s name will still appear on the ballot, but a vote for him will not count.

The county clerk’s office will posts signs sharing that information at each poll where his name appears on the ballot. The other two candidates in that race are Susan Davidson and Michael Scherman.

Soon after Alexander’s death, Richard Wardell announced a write-in candidacy for a seat on that board.

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