Williams County will Vote By Mail for ND Primary; No Physical Locations Due to COVID-19.

Williams County will be taking advantage of an executive order signed by Governor Doug Burgum on March 26th to keep residents safe when they vote in North Dakota's June Primary.

In a special meeting this morning, county commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the use of "vote by mail," which means voters can only vote via absentee ballot. Previously, the county had to provide a physical polling location, but the executive order waives that requirement. The Order also allows county election boards to open and process mail ballots no earlier than five business days before the election instead of only on the day before and the day of the election. Ballots cannot be counted until 7 pm on election day.

The Secretary of State’s Office will be mailing absentee applications to all active and nonactive voters in the North Dakota Central Voter File along with postage-paid return envelopes. Counties will remain responsible for mailing the ballot to voters and processing them once they are returned.

More information about the location of the secure mail ballot drop box and the ExpressVote assistive voting device will be available on the Williams County website (williamsnd.com) closer to the election date.