Absentee ballots being mailed out Monday

HELENA — County election officials are mailing nearly 170,000 absentee ballots for the June 5 primary election.

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch tells Lee Newspapers of Montana the number of ballots being mailed Monday is a record for a Montana primary.

An estimated 143,000 absentee ballots were sent out for the June 2010 off-year primary, while more than 109,500 people requested absentee ballots for the June 2008 primary, which also was a presidential election year.

The number of absentee voters has grown steadily since the passage of a 2003 law that no longer required voters to have an excuse to vote absentee.

Montana had 683,500 registered voters as of late last week. Regular voter registration ends Monday. Voters can register for the primary from Tuesday through June 5 at county election offices.