FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Date: March 18, 2020 Contact: Chad Houck, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Phone: (208) 332-2862

Boise, Idaho – Following the Governor’s press conference Wednesday morning, and in keeping with the recommendations for social distancing and group size limitation, Secretary of State Lawerence Denney is modifying the availability of over the counter services at both the 4th Street Corporate Division offices and the Secretary’s Capital office.

“With key deadlines for report and candidate filings now behind us at the capital, and to minimize risk to both my staff and the public, we are limiting the availability of over-the-counter services in both our offices to ‘by appointment only’ at this time,” says Denney. “We’ve made significant improvements in the past two years to make the vast majority of our services available online. Given the current environment, we are seeing an unexpected and immediate return on that investment.”

The change will take place immediately and continue at minimum until April 6. While the doors to the office will close and signs with contact information will be posted, the office will still functionally be open with staff continuing to answer both phone and email inquiries from 8-5.

ELECTIONS: As our part in responding to the existing COVID-19 situation in Idaho, the office of Secretary of State has initiated the #VoteEarlyIdaho campaign. Secretary Lawerence Denney along with Idaho’s 44 county clerks are promoting early requests of absentee ballots for the May 19, 2020 statewide primary election, hoping to significantly increase utilization of this voting method for May.

“By promoting early request of a ballot and voting by absentee, we are hoping Idahoans will take advantage of the opportunity to protect themselves and protect their neighbors. The process of voting absentee is literally as easy as 1, 2, 3.” says Chief Dep. Secretary Chad Houck. “You just have to request the ballot, wait for it to arrive around a month before the election, and then vote and get the ballot back to your county clerk before the polls close on election night!”

In order to help spread the word, the Idaho Secretary of State asks all Idahoans to share the campaign on social media using the hashtag “#VoteEarlyIdaho”. (Links and graphics to share the site can be found under step 2 on the #VoteEarlyIdaho page.) Additional Information and the Ballot Request Form is available now at https://idahovotes.gov/vote-early-idaho/.

ABOUT LAWERENCE DENNEY

Lawerence Denney has served the people of Idaho since 1990. His public service began as a representative in District 13 and, following redistricting, he became a representative in District 9 until 2014. During that time, Denney served two terms as Majority Leader and three terms as Speaker of the House before successfully running for state office. He is currently in his second term as Idaho’s Secretary of State.