For people who live in an Unorganized Area north of Ely, voting will be a bit different going forward. The problem is the first notification of the change was not well received.
Most of these people live along the Echo Trail and during the fires this summer they were in a designated evacuation zone. Because of that, the U.S. Post Office did not deliver their mail.
So if St. Louis County sent them a letter explaining the change to being a mail ballot precinct, it’s possible they didn’t receive it.
Up until this year, these voters cast their ballots at the Morse town hall. On Aug. 12, 2025 the St. Louis County board adopted a resolution that changed them to mail ballot voters.
A letter sent out last week was a bit confusing. While it was clear that going forward, registered voters in that precinct will automatically receive a ballot packet approximately 30 days before each election.
But if the voter wants to cast a vote in person, the procedure involves driving to the auditor’s office in Virginia or Duluth. What happens when they get there depends on how close to the election it is.
This isn’t the fault of the county, it’s the state legislature that made the goofy change. Between 19 and 46 days prior to the election, ballots are received but not fully processed. Starting 18 days prior to the election, voters can place their ballot into a tabulation machine. Got that? Yeah, us too.
