If you want to vote, you need to register soon

CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — Even though Election Day isn’t until Nov. 5, ballots are coming into the Lincoln County auditor’s office.

“We have had people nonstop at the counter. We’ve been mailing out ballots nonstop. It’s been very busy,” the county’s election coordinator Kayla Delfs said.

“I think it’s 150 a day, at least in person,” county auditor Sheri Lund said.

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This year has brought more absentee ballots than previous years.

“I think after 2020 when people got the idea of absentee voting, it might have made it more understandable,” Lund said. “People are more willing to do it. So I think that maybe we’ve got a few more numbers, but right now we’re on track for where we thought we were going to be.”

Be informed on the seven 2024 ballot measures

Amendment E

Amendment F

Amendment G

Amendment H

IM 28

IM 29

Referred Law 21

And during this election season, Lund has had well over a 1,000 new voter registrations.

“We’ve got a total absentee that has come back of 4,053. We’ve had a request for 5,268. And at this point, we have 48,288 active voters,” Lund said.

But for people who have yet to register to vote, time is running out.

“The deadline is Monday, the 21st of October, so we’d have to have it in our office or another government agency by Monday,” Lund said. “Postmark doesn’t count.”

But what does count is each voter’s ballot.

“It affects so much of what you do. It affects everything even stuff you don’t realize,” Delfs said. “And especially the amendments, there are seven of them and all of them are very important and they change a lot of stuff that specifically affects the people of South Dakota. So get out and voice your opinion on those amendments.”