Early voting changes in store at local city halls

PALMER — For the first time in at least a few years, early voters will not be able to get a city ballot at Palmer City Hall.

Instead, early voters will need to visit the Mat-Su Borough Building, where they can get both a borough ballot and a city ballot.

In Wasilla, voters will still be able to get an early voting ballot at the city hall, but it will only be the city’s ballot. Borough ballots will only be available at the division of elections office, 1700 E. Bogard Road Suite B, room 102.

Clerks at both cities stressed that there will be no changes for election day itself, but only for early voters, who are able to cast ballots starting 15 days before an election. That would be Sept. 22 for the Oct. 7 election.

In Palmer’s case, the change might be advantageous to voters, said city clerk Janette Bower.

“We’re not fully staffed all the hours of the day that we’re open and the Mat-Su Borough (Building) is,” she said.

Voters should pursue their Palmer ballots and borough ballots at the Mat-Su Borough building. Many of them already do.

In either case, early voters face traveling distances of less than 10 minutes via car.

The changes were in large part because the borough is trying to consolidate locations, said deputy borough clerk Jamie Newman.

“There are lots of other options,” she said. “Voters could request a by-mail ballot from the borough.

The borough is also seeking to expand its list of workers available for working the polls on election nights, Newman said.

Prospective employees must be able to work on Election Day, must be able to work a few hours the day before the election, must undergo training (consisting of four training sessions usually held right before an election) and must take an oath that they will faithfully execute their duties in accordance with the law. Those duties?

“They’re setting up the precincts,” she said. “They’re taking inventories of supplies, making sure we have enough of each. They’re essentially just getting people through the voting process.”

Other duties include checking identification.

All election positions are paid a fixed rate for their work on each election. Applications for the work are available on the borough clerk’s web site.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com