voting-20161012_142718By Wayne Gates –

Almost 4000 votes in the 2016 presidential election have already been cast in Brown County.
Brown County Board of Elections Director Connie Ayers said that 3713 votes have been cast through October 31, with 90-100 people voting per day.
She said that while her staff is busy working with early voters, the vote total seems a bit lower so for the 2016 election.
“I think we are a little down compared to 2012.  We finished with about 5000 early voter in that election.   We’ve mailed out or given out 4499 early ballots and we’ve received 3713 back so far,” Ayers said.
People still have the opportunity to cast an early vote between now and election day, November 8.
“We are here for people to vote from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday of this week.  Saturday (November 5), we are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday (November 6) from 1-5 p.m,” Ayers said.
Voters can also vote on Monday, November 7, from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.  After that time, voters must vote on election day.
Ayers said that there are about 700 absentee ballots in the county that have been requested but not returned.  She said those ballots must be postmarked by November 7th or returned to the board of elections office prior to 7:30 on November 8th.
Voters who have asked for an absentee ballot but do not use it may still vote on election day, but Ayers said that those votes have to be set aside for counting after November 8.
“What happens is that they will have to vote a provisional ballot.  They will be marked in the poll book as having requested an absentee ballot,” Ayers said.
Provisional ballots will be examined and counted on November 19 by the board of elections.
“If you have asked for an absentee ballot, you should use it because otherwise you will have to vote a provisional ballot,” Ayers said.
Besides voters who request an absentee ballot and then attempt to vote on election day, provisional ballots are given to voters who arrive to vote at a voting precinct for a different address for which they are registered to vote, among other reasons.
Provisional ballots must be examined individually by the board of elections, which determines their validity.