SANDPOINT — Vote 'em if you've got 'em.

That is the message Bonner County Clerk Michael Rosedale is communicating to the 12,500 voters who received absentee ballots in the mail for the Nov. 3 general election. Rosedale said absentee ballots can be dropped in the mail with the included post-paid envelope or dropped into a secure ballot box at the Bonner County Administration Building.

"There’s still four weeks for the mail to get here. It takes, normally, two days for them to get here at worst. Just vote ‘em and get ‘em back and that way we can get ahead of the game as far as checking the signatures and all that kind of stuff we need to do," Rosedale said.

Returning voted absentee ballots ahead of Election Day will streamline the task of tallying them, Rosedale said.

Rosedale said absentee ballots can also be turned at polling precincts, where they'll be destroyed and voters will be issued a new ballot. Rosedale strongly recommends against voters destroying ballots on their own and turning up at the polls as Idaho voters can only be issued one ballot during an election.

Rosedale is also encouraging people to register to vote or request an absentee ballot online. The deadline to register to vote ahead of the election is on Friday, although people can still register to vote when turn up to their polling precinct to cast a ballot.

Rosedale said approximately 4,400 of the 12,500 absentee ballots that were distributed have been returned so far.

Rosedale is anticipating for a robust 80-percent voter turnout on Nov. 3. That turnout would be on par with the general election turnout in 2016.

"Eighty percent of that 80 percent will be voting by way of absentee simply because they requested it back in May," Rosedale said.

All of Bonner County's polling precincts will be open on Election Day. Poll workers will have masks and gloves on hand, and surfaces subjected to frequent touching will be sanitized. The county is recommending people bring their own masks and pens to mark ballots, although the Idaho Attorney General's Office has issued an opinion holding that masks are not required in order to cast a ballot during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to Rosedale.

"We are going to have all of that available, but we can’t make anybody use them," Rosedale said of facial masks and gloves.