Election education presentation offered to public

Hot Springs County Clerk Becky Kersten will hold an Election Education presentation on Thursday, April 25 at 6 p.m. at Big Horn Federal. The event is co-sponsored by the HSC Democrats and the HSC Republicans. It is open to the public.

 Kersten said, “The purpose is to get out some of the information on the legislative changes that will be affecting our voters for the 2024 elections.”

 The Primary Election will be held on August 20 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. The General Election will be November 5 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. 

 There are three new changes to take note of. First, for absentee voting and picking up an absentee ballot, a photo ID will be required. Kersten explained, “The other thing is you can ask someone else to pick up your ballot for you but the request must be in writing, (and that’s not new) but whoever is picking up that ballot for the voter must also present their ID.”

 Second, absentee ballots will be available from July 23 through August 19, which shortens the amount of time to vote absentee from 45 days to 28 days. Military/Overseas voters still have 45 days to turn in their ballots. Kersten added, “This is really important, and we’re trying to warn people that sometimes it takes local mail more than a couple of days to be delivered. Although I haven’t met with our local post office yet this year, in the past they have been wonderful and have hand-canceled in-town absentee ballots, so they do not have to leave town and circle back.”

 The third new change is regarding making a change to your political party for those already registered. This must be done in person. The last day to change or declare your Registered Voter Party Affiliation is May 15 for the Primary election. 

 However, new voter registrations may still declare a party affiliation when registering after this deadline. You are not allowed to change parties from May 16 through the Primary Election Day. Voters cannot cancel registration and re-register to change party affiliation.

 Kersten said informing voters of this change “is important because we don’t want anyone getting to the polls and being frustrated because they can’t change their party as they have done in the past. It is our responsibility to let them know and understand what has changed. Our voters need to be prepared before they go to the polls, and absentee voters need to be prepared before they pick up their absentee ballots.”

County Clerk Kersten will also discuss during her presentation the 80,000 voters who were purged from the voter registration list and those concerns.

Registered voters in the state who did not participate in 2022’s general election were mailed a letter from the county clerk stating their registration status would be removed unless they take action. Hot Springs County’s letter was sent on December 30, 2022, and had to be returned by January 20, 2023. At that point, any individuals who did not respond were purged from the County’s voter registration list (marked inactive). The first line under ‘Already Registered’ in the county’s last week’s ad on the back page reads ‘Even if you think you are registered - Please contact our office to verify’ especially with the misinformation circulating on social media.