HELENA — Helena-area voters have just one day left to get their ballots in for the closely watched city and school elections.
It’s too late to send ballots back by mail, and the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office saw a steady stream of voters coming in Monday to drop them off.
“It's definitely gotten busier as we've gotten closer to Election Day,” said county election supervisor Connor Fitzpatrick.
Voters in the Helena School District will be deciding whether to increase property taxes to fund more than $280 million in bonds to rebuild Helena High School and Kessler Elementary School and renovate Capital High School. Those within the city of Helena will determine the two candidates for mayor and four candidates for city commission who will advance to the municipal general election in November.
As of Monday morning, the county had accepted about 16,800 ballots – around 45% of the roughly 37,400 sent out. Fitzpatrick said that’s good turnout for an election that comes at an unusual time.
“You've got the school election that's out of its normal cycle with the bond, you've got a city of Helena primary that hasn't been done for 24 years in our county – so a lot of interest, it seems, around that,” he said.
If you still haven’t turned in your ballot, you can bring it to the county elections office at the City-County Building in Helena, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday. Because this is a local election and not a federal election, you can still register to vote on Election Day at the elections office, also from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
