While voter turnout is expected to sharply decline for the upcoming May 28th runoff election, absentee voting in Potter County continues to post strong totals.

According to a ballot roster posted by Potter County on Friday, 330 voters have already returned their absentee ballots for the May 28th runoff election. In comparison, a total of 532 people voted by mail in the initial primary election held on March 5th. This means that around 62 percent of absentee voters from the first round of voting have already participated in the runoff election.

In 2022, voter turnout among absentee voters actually increased during the runoff election, as compared with the first round of voting. In the first primary election in 2022, 603 voters cast absentee ballots, while 610 voters cast absentee ballots for the runoff election. Meanwhile, in-person turnout slumped down during the runoff election by around 59 percent.

Voters have until 7pm on Election Day to return their absentee ballot. However, this cutoff time is the moment the ballot must be received by election official. This means that if voters intend to mail in their ballot, they need to do so several days before the deadline to ensure that it is received and counted in time. Ballots postmarked by the election date, but not received, will not be counted.