Late this month, Auburn registered voters will receive ballots for the Tuesday, Nov. 15, special election on a half-cent city sales tax increase.
Ballots will be mailed out Friday, Oct. 28. Included with the ballot will be detailed instructions and a return envelope. Ballots will be mailed first-class and will be non-forwardable. Early voting ballots will be sent only to voters who request that their ballot be mailed to an address different than their address of record. Those ballots may be sent out before that date. Any voters who register to vote after Oct. 28 will receive their ballot as soon as possible.
All ballots must be returned to the Nemaha County Election Commissioner’s office by 5 p.m. Nov. 15. The ballots may be returned by mail or in person. If ballots are returned in person, they must be done during regular business hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Oct. 28 is also the deadline for voter registrations from agencies including the Department of Motor Vehicles to be completed as well as postmark of mail-in voter registration.
Friday, Nov. 4, is the last day for in-person voter registration at the Election Commissioner office at the Nemaha County Courthouse. The office will be open Nov. 4 until 6 p.m. Nov. 4 is also the last day to mail out ballots.
Wednesday, Nov. 9, is the deadline to mail out early voting ballots to voters who request that their ballots be mailed to an address different than their address of record. Thursday, Nov. 10, is the last day that a replacement ballot may be sent to a voter. Nov. 15 at noon is the deadline to request a replacement ballot.
Members of the counting board, canvassing board and resolution board will be appointed by the election commissioner by Saturday, Oct. 15.
Thursday, Oct. 20, the election commissioner and office assistant will conduct three independent tests of the ballot tabulating machine. Program chips will be stored in a safe environment in the county clerk’s office. The office will be locked when the office is closed.
Oct. 28, the election commissioner and law enforcement officers will inspect ballot boxes and confirm that they are empty. The ballot boxes will then be locked in preparation for the return of ballots by mail or hand delivered to the election commissioner’s office.
Returned ballots will be verified in accordance with state statutes. Once the ballots are verified and logged into the voter registration system, they will be deposited into inspected ballot boxes and will remain there until the counting board convenes to open ballot boxes, and begin opening the envelopes and preparing the ballots for tabulation. Returned ballots will be stored in ballot boxes in the secured Counting Room.
Replacement and provisional ballots will be issued in accordance with state statutes. Ballots from voters returned as undeliverable will be so noted in the voter registration system. Ballots from voters returned with updated addresses will be cross checked to see if the new address is located within the correct boundaries. If that is the case, the voter will be issued a new ballot using provisional ballot measures. If the new address is not located within city boundaries, the new address will be noted in the voter registration system.
The additional sales tax would raise Auburn’s tax to 7 percent, 5.5 percent state and 1.5 percent locally. Auburn would be in line with most other area municipalities which have the same local sales tax rate. City officials said that the additional sales tax revenue collected would be used for lawful municipal purposes consisting of 25-50 percent to provide property tax relief for Auburn residents. The remaining proceeds will be used to provide funding for capital improvements. The latter would include trails, signage, streets and other items within the city’s master plan approved earlier this year and a revitalization plan completed in 2005.