By Matt Neznanski
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Friday, October 19, 2007 12:00 am
County election officers will mail thousands of ballots today to registered voters in Benton County while working through a pile of last-minute registrations.
"We've processed 800 registrations in the last 24 hours," Jill Van Buren, Benton County supervisor of elections, said Thursday.
Tuesday was the last day to register for the Nov. 6 election. Van Buren said her office is processing last-minute registrations from Oregon State University, the state Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division and mailed registrations as fast as possible.
"It would be easy to say we've added another 1,000 to our list," she said.
Until all of the registrations are processed, the official number of eligible voters won't be known. As of Monday, Benton County had 46,191 active voters on the roll. Democrats numbered 18,682 while 15,022 Republicans were registered. More than 11,200 voters claimed no party affiliation.
During this year's election, voters in Benton County will be asked to decide two state measures and whether to approve a countywide levy, with a handful of local levies and bonds from around the county.
Most voters will receive their ballot in the mail on Saturday.
Voters who haven't received a ballot by Oct. 25 should contact the elections office to check their voter status. A voter's status might be interrupted after a move, including a change in post office box.
Under the law, no one may forward a ballot through the mail, including the postal service and election supervisors.
If a voter has moved and has not updated his or her address with the election office, ballots are returned to the election office and held. If a forwarding address has been noted, the election office uses the information to update voter rolls following the election.
Once votes have been cast, ballots may be returned to the elections office by mail, in an official drop box, or by hand-delivering the ballot to the elections office.
All ballots must arrive at the elections office on or before Tuesday, Nov. 6, by 8 p.m. in order to be counted. Mail ballots delivered later will not be counted, even if they are postmarked on or before Election Day.
Call the Benton County Elections Office at 766-6756 with questions. Voting instructions are available online at the county elections office Web site: www.co.benton.or.us/admin/elections.