The initial mailing on Monday included over 12,000 ballots.
Ballots will continue to be mailed through Election Day, May 19. Voters who have already requested a ballot should expect to see them in their mailboxes soon. Ada County Elections received a large surge in requests for May Primary ballots that began even before the announcement from the Idaho Secretary of State Lawrence Denney that the May 19 primary would be conducted by absentee ballot.
Elections staff have been shifting resources to process and mail the large volume of requests. Another surge of requests is expected in the coming days to coincide with the Secretary of State’s Office state-wide mailing of request forms to registered voters.
“We’re excited by the initial response from voters. It shows that the word is getting out that this election will be different. As we shift resources to handle the surge in requests, we ask for the patience of the community. We fulfill requests for ballots as quickly as possible. We’re over a month away from Election Day, and we appreciate that voters have gotten their requests in early to ensure they have ample time to complete and return their ballot to be counted,” said Phil McGrane, Ada County Clerk.
For comparison, Ada County Elections mailed out 3,856 absentee ballots to voters in the May 2016 Primary Election. A total of 35,363 ballots were cast in that Election. The deadline to return a ballot is June 2, 2020 at 8 p.m. Ballots can be returned to Ada County Elections by mail, or returned to the ballot drop box in front of the Ada County Elections Office on 400 North Benjamin Lane in Boise.
