Election Day may seem like months away, but for the Dubois County Clerk’s Office, the voting season heating up fast.
But before you even think about casting your vote, you need to register. And Dubois County Clerk, Amy Kippenbrock, says that the deadline is quickly approaching.
“October 5th is a hard deadline for voter registration updates and changes or just to get registered. If you’re not sure if you’re a registered voter, you can go to Indiana voters.com. You can sign into their portal. It’s really easy. Just put your name and your date of birth in there and it’ll tell you if you’re registered or not. You can also update your registration if your address or name has changed,” she says.
Some residents are receiving applications in their mailbox, without asking for one. Kippenbrock says these are real explains who sent them.
“Recently the state Democratic and the Republican parties have both been mailing applications. It might be addressed to you personally or just to your address as a resident of that address. If you haven’t filled out an application yet and you’ve received that application from the state party, you can fill that out. It will look like it’s going back to Indianapolis. But they send the forms to us digitally. Once we receive your application, we will process it and will send you your ballot,” she says.
The Clerk’s Office is also getting bombarded with calls about the voting process. And this year, Kippenbrock says the top question is about mail-in voting options and where to find information.
“Indiana voters.com can tell you who’s on your ballot. It’s a really great resource for people to go to they can you can find all kinds of information and do things on that website,” Kippenbrock says.
Once you have figured out who to vote for, what’s next? Although in-person voting is still an option, mail-in voting is increasing in popularity because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kippenbrock says mail-in voting is a two-step process.
“You have to fill out an application. It’s really basic information like your name, your address, and why you can’t vote on Election Day. I think it’s 12 different reasons that you can choose from and then you need to sign that application and it must be returned to the clerk’s office by October 22nd,” Kippenbrock says.
Some residents may see ballots in their mailbox as soon as today.
“Anybody that has filled out an application so far should expect to see their ballot arrived shortly after September 19th. After that, we will process applications as they come in and send out ballots on a daily basis,” she says.
Kippenbrock says there are two ways you can return these ballots and forms to them: by mail, or by dropping it off at the dropbox in the Courthouse Annex.
If you have any questions about voting in this year’s election, call the Dubois County Clerk’s Office at (812)-481-7035 or email clerk@duboiscountyin.org.
