Elections off sends out expired ballot envelopes

COLFAX — County Auditor Sandy Jamison confirmed that Whitman County Elections office used leftover return envelopes from last fall’s general election for the Feb. 13 Special Election to save approximately $6,000 in taxes on vote-by-mail ballots.

According to Jamison using the old return envelopes with the expired date will not affect the current election.

Jamison said all the old return envelopes will be used during the special election, and voters should not be alarmed by the expiration date on the return envelope.

Jamison said the U.S. Postal Service will normally return the mail-in ballots to the auditor’s office in Colfax.

Jamison apologized to voters for not alerting the public about using the return envelopes with an expired date ahead of mailing them out.

The auditor’s office sent out approximately 22,000 ballots on Friday, Jan. 26, which must be returned to the auditor’s office by Tuesday, Feb. 13.

“The 22,000 are all Whitman County residents regardless live or where they are physically located,” Jamison said, noting that some of the total were ballots sent to Whitman County residents countywide including those who were overseas.