Election season in Polk County is underway, with mail-in ballots sent to registered voters and county election officials preparing for the start of in-person early voting.
Director of Public Records Sam Melbye told KROX that mail-in ballots were sent out to voters beginning on September 18, and they can be returned by mail or dropped off at the secure ballot drop box on the east side of the Polk County Government Center in Crookston. “We’ve got everything good as far as that’s going. They’re at our printer, we have received our ballots here, so we’re at a good spot as far as that goes. It’s the busy time now of the testing.”
Currently, Melbye is working with his election staff on testing the election equipment and ensuring ballots are being read correctly by the ballot tabulators. “Right now, they’re down there listening to all the ballots on the assisted devices to make sure all the candidates’ names are pronounced correctly and making sure that they’re all rotating correctly,” Melbye explained. “There’s 122 ballots for them to make sure that all these rotations are followed in order, and then they get to mark them in a certain order so that we can test them to make sure that the tabulators are reading them properly, and that we can say yes, we stand by what our results show and what these tabulators show.”
Polk County residents can begin voting in person at the Polk County Government Center on Friday, October 16. Anyone who needs to register to vote can stop by the Taxpayer Service Center and fill out the necessary paperwork to register. Voters who are already registered will have to fill out a certification form before they can vote early. “If they want to early vote, they can come here to the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.,” said Melbye. “There is a certification form that they have to fill out. It’s not an application. It’s just a certification form if they are registered. If they are not registered to vote, then yes, they will have to do a voter registration, but we can take care of all of that right here at the counter and get you the ballot, so you can vote that day and place it into one of our tabulators, so it’s just like a polling place.”
The Taxpayer Service Center will be open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. along with special hours on Saturday, October 24 and Saturday, October 31, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, and 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 2. The office will be open on Election Day, November 3, from 7:00 a.m. until polls close at 8:00 p.m.
