Cass County Election officials preparing for 2020 election

Election coordinators are forced to make changes due to the pandemic

FARGO, N.D. — The 2020 election is on the forefront of most of our minds these days.

For election coordinators, it’s forcing them to make some changes to plans that they’ve long relied on.

The new challenge to account for: an increase in absentee voters due to the pandemic.

But with reports of the postal service facing equipment shortages and budget cuts, many people are worried about if their vote will get in on time.

“The biggest thing with returning them is not to wait til the last minute there. Allow yourself time,” said Cass County Election Coordinator DeAnn Buckhouse.

Cass County officials say that if you request your ballot early, you will most likely get it on September 24th, plenty of time to get it sent back.

And if you don’t want to rely on the postal service, you can always drop it off at the courthouse secure drop box before the business day ends on Election Day.

“That’s checked multiple times every day, we have options as far as getting the ballot and returning the ballot, but don’t wait til the last minute,” said Buckhouse.

Cass County has also made some adjustments to in-person voting, opening up three early voting locations on October 19th to help minimize how many people are at the polls on Election Day.

Another three early voting locations will open the week after that, with all six being operational for the November election.

They’ve also purchased some new voting equipment that will make it more convenient to vote in person.

“That’s one of the nice things with the new equipment that we have, we are able to run them as vote centers, so there is no right or wrong place to vote,” stated Buckhouse.

Despite the challenge of running a majority absentee election, Cass County is still confident we’ll know who won by the end of the night.

“Our plan is to have the majority of everything reported by the end of election night,” said Buckhouse.

You can find out how to register for an absentee ballot in North Dakota at this link.

You can find out how to register for an absentee ballot in Minnesota at this link.