Hope Lions Hear From County Clerk On Voting

By Staff, 09/28/20 4:19 PM

The Hope Lions heard from one of their own, County Clerk Karen Smith, on Monday September 28th.  Smith talked about voting in the upcoming election and especially absentee voting.  Smith said if you’re not sure if you’re registered to vote, you can call her office at 777-2241 or visit voterview.org.  She noted the last day to register to vote is October 5th.  Early voting starts October 19th and will continue through November 2nd.  It will be at the Hempstead County Courthouse on the bottom floor in the conference room.  Weekdays this will be available 8am until 6pm and Saturdays from 10am until 4pm.  Monday November 2nd the early voting closes at 5pm.  On election day, the polls will be open from 7:30am until 7:30pm.  Smith said the county is a “vote center” county which means you can vote at any polling site if you’re a registered voter.  The polling places include the Bingen Community Center, Cross Roads Volunteer Fire Department, Fulton Library, Hope Fair Park, McCaskill Community Center, Ozan VFD, Patmos VFD, Saratoga School, Spring Hill VFD, Washington Fire Station, and the Word of Faith Church in Blevins.

If you need an absentee ballot application, call the county clerk’s office at 777-2241.  They will mail it to you, you fill it out, sign it, and mail it back in.  If al the information is correct, they will send you a ballot.  Concerns about COVID-19 is a legitimate reason to ask for an absentee ballot.  So far they have sent out 326 ballots and have had 79 returned as of Monday.