County clerk responds to mail-in voting questions
August 19, 2020
Sheila Harris
Barry County Clerk, Jill LeCompte, says she’s received many questions regarding mail-in ballots for the upcoming November 3 general election. The interest is due, in part, she believes, to the attention given to the topic by national news sources.
In Missouri, a form to request a ballot will be available on the Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.mo.gov on Tuesday, August 18.
“Voters can also email or mail us a written, signed note with the same information, but we prefer that voters use the official form,” LeCompte said.
“The form, or your written note to request a ballot will need to include the following information: your full name, your mailing address, your date of birth, and the last four digits of your social security number.
“And,” Lecompte emphasized, “it will have to be signed.”
Requests for a ballot may be emailed to [email protected], or mailed to 700 Main Street, Suite 2, Cassville, MO 65625.
“We are already getting several requests for mail-in ballots,” Lecompte said. “However, we won’t begin mailing ballots out to the people who request them until September 22.
According to information quoted in an article in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thomas Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, told Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in a letter July 31 that the service might not be able to get all ballots to election officials by Nov. 3 if they are mailed too close to Election Day.
Election officials are expecting a sharp increase in mail-in ballots for the general election because of coronavirus concerns and the legislature’s decision to expand mail-in voting options this year.
“We recommend that voters who choose to mail their ballots do so no later than Tuesday, Oct. 27,” Marshall said in the letter.
Marshall said the postal service is not recommending the state election laws be changed to accommodate its service.
“By the same token, however, the Postal Service cannot adjust its delivery standards to accommodate the requirements of state election law,” Marshall wrote.
Marshall recommended that states should have deadlines for requesting a mail ballot at least 15 days before the election. Missouri’s deadline to request an absentee or mail-in ballot is Oct. 21.
In Barry County, Lecompte assures residents that, beginning September 22, her office will begin mailing ballots out within 24 hours of receiving the request from a voter. If a voter’s request is already in her office, they will be first in line to receive ballots.
“We will hire additional staff if we need to for the general election,” she said.
“We can’t be responsible, though, for people who don’t send us the correct information when requesting a ballot,” she added. “That’s why we advise voters to use the form on the Secretary of State’s website.”
When mailing in official ballots to be counted in the election, LeCompte said it’s very important that, in addition to completing the ballot, voters sign the back of the envelope.
“We won’t count ballots that arrive in unsigned envelopes,” she said.
LeCompte’s office would like to assure voters that ballots will be counted as long as they arrive in the clerk’s office before 7 p.m. the day of the election, and as long as they contain all of the required information.
LeCompte’s office cannot speak on behalf of the postal service, although she advises that voters mail ballots in as soon as possible after they receive them from her office.
According to LeCompte, in the last election, her office received about 200 mail-in ballots and about 300 absentee ballots.
Barry County Clerk, Jill LeCompte, says she’s received many questions regarding mail-in ballots for the upcoming November 3 general election. The interest is due, in part, she believes, to the attention given to the topic by national news sources.
In Missouri, a form to request a ballot will be available on the Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.mo.gov on Tuesday, August 18.
“Voters can also email or mail us a written, signed note with the same information, but we prefer that voters use the official form,” LeCompte said.
“The form, or your written note to request a ballot will need to include the following information: your full name, your mailing address, your date of birth, and the last four digits of your social security number.
“And,” Lecompte emphasized, “it will have to be signed.”
Requests for a ballot may be emailed to [email protected], or mailed to 700 Main Street, Suite 2, Cassville, MO 65625.
“We are already getting several requests for mail-in ballots,” Lecompte said. “However, we won’t begin mailing ballots out to the people who request them until September 22.
According to information quoted in an article in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thomas Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, told Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in a letter July 31 that the service might not be able to get all ballots to election officials by Nov. 3 if they are mailed too close to Election Day.
Election officials are expecting a sharp increase in mail-in ballots for the general election because of coronavirus concerns and the legislature’s decision to expand mail-in voting options this year.
“We recommend that voters who choose to mail their ballots do so no later than Tuesday, Oct. 27,” Marshall said in the letter.
Marshall said the postal service is not recommending the state election laws be changed to accommodate its service.
“By the same token, however, the Postal Service cannot adjust its delivery standards to accommodate the requirements of state election law,” Marshall wrote.
Marshall recommended that states should have deadlines for requesting a mail ballot at least 15 days before the election. Missouri’s deadline to request an absentee or mail-in ballot is Oct. 21.
In Barry County, Lecompte assures residents that, beginning September 22, her office will begin mailing ballots out within 24 hours of receiving the request from a voter. If a voter’s request is already in her office, they will be first in line to receive ballots.
“We will hire additional staff if we need to for the general election,” she said.
“We can’t be responsible, though, for people who don’t send us the correct information when requesting a ballot,” she added. “That’s why we advise voters to use the form on the Secretary of State’s website.”
When mailing in official ballots to be counted in the election, LeCompte said it’s very important that, in addition to completing the ballot, voters sign the back of the envelope.
“We won’t count ballots that arrive in unsigned envelopes,” she said.
LeCompte’s office would like to assure voters that ballots will be counted as long as they arrive in the clerk’s office before 7 p.m. the day of the election, and as long as they contain all of the required information.
LeCompte’s office cannot speak on behalf of the postal service, although she advises that voters mail ballots in as soon as possible after they receive them from her office.
According to LeCompte, in the last election, her office received about 200 mail-in ballots and about 300 absentee ballots.
